Moving Up In The World
by ravengal
Summary: Ranma and Akane are graduating high school! But a strange situation creates a deal. A deal with the potential to right the wrongs of their dysfunctional relationship, but how easy is it? And how many people actually WANT them to grow closer? RanmaxAkane
1. Graduation Day Part One

Author's note: Hi! Well, I'm new here to the Ranma 1/2 section (this being my first ever Ranma 1/2 fic), but I wanna shout out the fact that Ranma 1/2 is my absolute favourite anime and I was simply dying to write this fic. I shouldn't, since I have too many fics running as it is, but I couldn't resist. Haha.

Right, this is how I think the anime (not the manga) should continue. Please do enjoy it! The main pairings shall be Ranma/Akane, Mousse/Shampoo, Ryoga/Ukyo, Tatewaki/Nabiki and Tofu/Kasumi, in that order.

Also note that Miss Amaya is my OC. In case you're wondering, her name means 'night rain'. I figured that the appearance I gave her would match this quite nicely.

Okay, well, I'm gonna have to take a few stabs in the dark with dates and birthdays, which is a pain. Let's say that Ranma's birthday is in April, Akane's birthday is in early May and, when Ranma joined high school, it was nearing the end of May, so, by that point, they were both sixteen.

Lastly, there was originally much more to this chapter, but it was getting too long as it was, so the rest will be in the next chapter.

**Chapter One****: Graduation Day – Part One**

Ranma Saotome, now eighteen years old, was in a complex mood, which certainly wasn't unusual for him, considering that he lived in Nerima – possibly the craziest town in all of Japan – but it was for a different reason than usual. As he sat comfortably at his desk in Furinkan High, listening to his current teacher, Miss Amaya – whom he thought was far more pleasant than his last female teacher, Miss Hinako – drone on about their graduation ceremony later on that day, his thoughts again reminded him that this was his last ever day at this high school.

A part of him felt ecstatic about leaving high school, since he'd be removing a decent chunk of craziness from his life, which he felt was a big relief, considering just how much craziness he had in his life. He'd be walking away from the crazy teacher with the energy-draining powers, the even crazier principal with the obsessive desire to shave off his pigtail and the perverted classmate with a passion for voodoo. He would have also said that he was walking away from the poetry-spouting kendo expert who was madly in love with his girl form, but said boy had already left Furinkan High a year ago and was currently – and he only knew this because the boy had made a point of telling everyone he knew about it before leaving – studying Literature at university. Ranma was honestly glad that he was gone, because he was sick to death of 'the pigtailed girl' being glomped and groped every chance the boy got.

Another part of him was rather sad about leaving, since Furinkan High was one place in Nerima where he'd built up a lot of memories, though it was debatable whether he could call them good or bad. He and Akane would walk there together every day and craziness would abound continuously, involving both his boy form and his girl form. This was the place where he'd encountered an enraged Ryoga trying to kill him, where he'd competed against Mariko at Martial Arts Cheerleading, where Tatewaki had met his girl form, where said girl form had been revealed to the entire school whilst Tatewaki had been unconscious and, of course, where his mere presence as Akane's fiancé had warded off all of said girl's perverted suitors.

Besides all of this, Akane had applied to university, whereas he was planning to go into work, since he did _not_ like the idea of going back into education for _another_ three or so years. That would mean much less time for the two of them to hang out together during the day. In theory, it sounded wonderful, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be quite so wonderful when it actually started happening. On the plus side, there'd be fewer misunderstandings and fewer beatings to endure, but on the minus side, he was so used to having her around him twelve hours a day that he'd probably end up missing her.

His thoughts then wandered over to how Akane's older sister, Nabiki, would currently be doing. A year ago, she'd moved down south to Nagoya to live on-campus at the university that she was now attending. Ranma smirked as he remembered what it was that she was studying: Accounting and Finance. It was the ideal career path for a girl like Nabiki, seeing as she always used to take so much pleasure in the handling – and swindling – of money. If she scored a job as an accountant, not only would she be in charge of other people's money, but there'd also be a potential for her to become very rich.

"Alright, class," Miss Amaya said with a bright smile as she flipped her long jet black hair over her shoulder, "since you'll be leaving at the end of the day, I've devised a little assignment to help boost your fellow classmates' morale." Her ocean blue eyes sparkled with delight as she said this.

Ranma groaned into the hand that he was leaning on. _Oh, great..._ he thought, _an assignment on the last freaking day of school... and it's a morale-booster? Why the hell would I want to boost the morale of anyone in this room? No one's exactly been very friendly to me over these last three years._

"Everyone come up to my desk and take a piece of paper and a pen."

Ranma stood up, along with the rest of the class, and made his way to the front of the room. As he waited in line, he quietly grumbled to himself about how much of a time-waster this was.

"Oh, stop complaining, Ranma," Akane hissed from behind him.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever," he replied dismissively.

Finally, it was his turn to approach the desk. Upon doing so, he picked up a piece of paper from the top of the pile, plucked a black pen from the pen pot and walked back to his seat. The moment he sat back down, he placed the paper and pen on the desk and waited for the line to disappear, so he could find out what he was supposed to be doing for this stupid assignment.

Eventually, the entire class was back in their seats, so Miss Amaya spoke again. "Alright," she said, her bright smile back on her face, "now, I want each of you to turn to the person next to you... and make sure that you're looking at the person who's looking at _you_."

_Waste of my freaking time..._ _but okay._

Ranma turned to the side where he knew that Akane was sitting and watched as she did the same to him. Her greyish-brown eyes, swimming with confusion about the current situation, stared straight into his blue eyes.

"Okay? Now, your assignment is to write a list of all the things you like most about the person you're looking at."

Ranma snapped his head round to gawk in horror at his teacher. "_What_?" He noted that Akane had said the exact same thing at the exact same time.

"It'll help let that person know that, no matter where they journey to next in the world, there is someone out there who values their best qualities."

_Okay, it's official... this assignment is the worst thing to ever happen to me... and that's saying a __**lot**__._

Ranma slumped across his desk, wondering why he could never get a break in his life. Hell, he'd prefer a fight with Miss Hinako and a tussle with Principal Kuno over _this._ Writing a list of the things that he liked most about Akane? Was Miss Amaya trying to kill him here?

It wasn't so much that Akane didn't _have_ any qualities about her that he liked, it was that he would have to face the humiliation of _listing_ them and handing that list _over_ to her at the end of the day. After living in a battle of pride with her for the past three years, this would be like throwing in the towel and saying, "Okay, you know what? I actually do like you"... and, as a rule, Ranma Saotome of the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts did _not_ throw in the towel. However, saying _that_, a challenge had been laid down in front of him – a challenge to actually list what he liked about Akane and then give it to her – and it simply wasn't in his blood to forfeit a challenge. He gently slammed his head on the table; why, oh, why, did he have to have so much freaking pride?

* * *

Akane Tendo was tense throughout the graduation ceremony, barely listening to Principal Kuno's opening speech, which contained its proper congratulations and thank you's, but also quite the few insults to various students about their hairstyles and behaviours over the years. Instead, her mind was completely focused on what Miss Amaya had told her to do by the end of the day. How, in blazes, could the woman do that to her? She didn't want to be writing _Ranma_, of all people, a list of all the things that she liked most about him! Hell, it would make his already large ego inflate so much that he'd have to drag it around behind him in a freaking wheelbarrow!

As a couple of awards were handed out to particular students for their academic records, Akane's expression screwed itself into an indescribable shape. Her eyes were staring at her knees – where her hands were slowly curling into tighter and tighter fists – her mouth was twisting unpleasantly, her brows were furrowed and one of her eyes was twitching. She couldn't help it! The mere thought of writing that list terrified the crap out of her, but, at the same time, pissed the hell out of her. She'd rather take on Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi in another cooking contest, but, this time, with her hands tied behind her back! Tell Ranma what she liked most about him? His ferocious carnivore of an ego would eat her alive! She would never, ever, in the history of her life, ever live it down!

Her stomach did a few uncomfortable flip-flops, making her feel horribly sick; oh, where the hell would she begin with this list? Thinking about it, there was also the problem that she always had trouble _figuring out_ her bloody emotions, but writing them down would be a nightmare. She had so many conflicting feelings for the boy in question that she'd never before been able to sort through them and separate them into manageable chunks. She just wasn't patient enough to try that sort of thing, anyway, so they were a jumbled mess inside her head. Besides this, there was also the fact that she still couldn't even really admit to _herself_ exactly how she felt about him. Her heart knew how she felt, but her mind refused to even think the forbidden word.

_Okay..._ she thought, trying her best to be rational, _come on, Akane... you can do this... This is for Ranma... No, this is for Miss Amaya... Yeah, that's it. It's just one stupid little assignment that she wants you to do before you graduate. Focus and just do the assignment._

"Alright, keikis!" Principal Kuno called out in his Hawaiian accent. "Now it be time for de singing! So stand up and be ready to belt yer hearts out for de school anthem!"

Hearing this – and seeing all the other students around her stand up – caused Akane to snap back to reality, her train of thought radically interrupted. She then sighed at the thought of doing anything that Principal Kuno asked her to do, but stood up just as obediently as everyone else.

For about a minute, she was blissfully able to forget about the list, seeing as she was far too busy focusing on singing the correct words to the school anthem with the correct timing, as well as trying to fight off the slight swelling in her tear-ducts. This was her last official day at Furinkan High School and it was a bittersweet moment. She would finally be moving on from her teenage years and progressing on to bigger and better things in the world, which she hoped included university. However, this high school had a lot of memories, both good and bad, attached to it, so she was rather sad to have to walk away from it.

* * *

It was only a short while after everyone had been singing along to the school anthem and, now, the students were back in their classrooms. The moment Akane entered the room and locked eyes with Ranma, she remembered with a jolt to the stomach what it was that Miss Amaya had told her to do.

_Oh, hell, no..._ she thought as she slowly sat down in the seat next to the boy in question, _I almost forgot about that freaking list._

"Hello again, class," Miss Amaya said as she walked into the classroom, her usual bright smile adorning her face.

Akane suddenly felt the desire to rip off the woman's face for smiling like that. _Damn hippy and her goddamn hippy-ish ideas... She's the only person I know with such a strong need to 'raise other people's morale'... Hmph..._

"Now, I know you won't have finished your assignments yet, since you won't have had the chance to do them yet, so I'm giving you until the end of the day." She paused to beam at her students and Akane's desire to rip off her face only got stronger. "Come back to the classroom at the end of the day, okay? So I can see all those happy smiles when you get your lists off each other." She paused again and Akane was certain that she could hear someone grumbling nearby. "Okay! Time to hand out your diplomas!"

* * *

Not long after the diplomas were all handed out, the students were excused, so that they could mingle, take photographs and say their goodbyes to each other. However, quite a few members of Ranma's class had decided to spread out around the building to find a quiet place to write their lists. Ranma himself had decided to head up to the roof, so he was currently walking up the stairs and through the door.

He was pleased to find that he was only one up there, since it meant that he could work on his list without having to deal with any distractions and, even worse, other students getting a glimpse at what he was writing.

Closing the door, he walked over to the middle of the roof and sat down. As he set down his diploma, he noted with some content that, although it was a fairly cold day in March, there was barely a breeze to be found, which meant that neither his diploma nor his list would be blown away. Pulling the piece of paper and pen from his pockets, he lay on his front, then placed the piece of paper on the floor in front of him, lifted the cap from the pen, placed it on the other end and began to think. Tapping the pen against his chin, he tried to think of something that he could write.

_Okay..._ he thought, _I don't want this to sound __**too**__ praising or I'll never hear the end of it... and it's not allowed to be insulting... Hmm..._

A couple of minutes passed as he continuously racked his brain for a positive thing that he could say about Akane. Fairly soon, he was groaning in frustration and ruffling his black hair in annoyance; yep, this was as difficult as he'd imagined it would be. What could he say that wasn't too ego-boosting, yet also wasn't too insulting?

He suddenly thought of all the times that she'd beaten him over the head or punched him over the horizon for either something that he'd said or something that she'd assumed he'd done. He scowled, but then thought about all the times that he'd called her an uncute tomboy and, instead, smirked. Heh, their relationship was kind of amusing in a way; he insulted her, so she beat him up... she beat him up, so he insulted her. It worked in a vicious never-ending cycle.

He blinked, suddenly realising something; without Akane's violence, his life would be... well, not boring, but certainly much less exciting. He had to chuckle at the absurd thought, but he realised that it was true. Whenever the girl got pissed off at him, the effect was so damn scary that it would make his heart race at immeasurable speeds, sometimes tripling in rate. He would never admit it to anyone, but he was freaking terrified of Akane whenever she got like that. However, it also always gave him a much larger adrenaline rush than any amount of training or fighting did. Smirking again, he brought pen to paper and wrote something.

'Her violent tendencies make my life exciting'

He stared back at the words on the page and laughed, unable to believe that he'd just written that. Then he shook his head and tried to come up with some more points to list, since he knew that just one alone wasn't going to be enough.

His thoughts drifted to his other two official fiancées, Shampoo and Ukyo, and his one unofficial fiancée, Kodachi. The three of them had been trying for three years now to claim him as their husband, something which... which Akane never did, now that he thought about it. While the other three were constantly latching onto him and trying to drag him away from the other fiancées, Akane always – after beating him senseless in a barbaric rage – walked away. In effect, she gave him his space. She was never clingy and always kept a reasonable distance away from him. He turned back to the paper and wrote something else.

'She always respects my personal space'

He paused after this, deciding not to say who he was comparing her to, since that was too ego-inflating of a thing to say. As his thoughts lingered on his other fiancées, he recalled the time when he'd been under the spell of Happosai's magic bandage, which had caused him to fall in love with every girl that he'd laid eyes on. His eyes widened as he recalled that he'd been very lovey-dovey with Akane that day – both with and without the bandage – and he tried to suppress the shudder that threatened to venture forth. Casting his mind to the other events of that day, in the belief that there might be something else that he could use, he recalled how Shampoo and Ukyo had tried to take advantage of him while he'd been under the spell. They'd both been after him like Happosai after underwear, brandishing marriage licences for him to sign in the desperate hope that they'd secure their future with him. Also, thinking about it, there had been another time where Shampoo had _forced_ him to fall in love with her, using a strange red thread of fate that she'd found somewhere. He cringed slightly as he remembered that he'd almost married her in his magically-induced besotted state. Then, of course, there was Kodachi, who was always using every dirty trick in the book to claim him as her own. He could remember the time when she'd hit him with paralysis powder and, while he'd been in this incapacitated state, she'd almost kissed him... and possibly even raped him. He shuddered at the mere recollection.

Suddenly, he realised something else and blinked in bewilderment; whilst the other three had been trying so hard to get him to fall in love with them all those times, Akane hadn't tried at all. Instead, she'd always been complaining about being engaged to him and how he was an insensitive jerk that she couldn't believe she was stuck with. Hell, she'd even saved him those three times that he'd thought of. The first time, she'd stopped him from randomly marrying either Shampoo or Ukyo – and had chosen not to take advantage of him, even though all she'd had to do was ask him to marry her, which he'd have done without question... the second time, she'd cut the red thread of fate just before he'd married Shampoo... and, the third time, she'd gotten Kodachi away from him. Granted, she'd misinterpreted the situation and had thought that he'd _wanted_ to do something dirty with Kodachi on her roof, so had jealously kicked the girl away, but he still counted that as saving him. Smiling slightly, he wrote something else on the paper.

'She never tries to force me into anything'

God, this stupid list was making him think a little bit too much about Akane... and he was sure that the smile on his face was getting wider. Well, maybe it wouldn't hurt to write down that she was cute. After all, she _was_ cute when she either smiled or laughed. He brought the pen to the paper, but a sudden jolt to the brain made him stop dead in his tracks.

_Oh, hell no... I wasn't seriously going to-? No, no, no, no! Absolutely not! No way! After three straight years of calling her an uncute tomboy, I am __**not**__ about to say that she can be cute!_ He paused. _I'll keep __**that**__ one to myself..._

He looked down at the list in front of him and saw that he'd only written down three points. He sighed; Akane would kill him if she saw this puny list of the things that he liked most about her. He stopped and thought about it again for a minute and something immediately came to mind. There was the fact that she cared about him... sort of... sometimes... when she wasn't beating him senseless or sending him skyward with one of her megaton punches. She did try her best to make food that he'd enjoy. He laughed out loud to himself; okay, he'd best not even _think_ about her cooking, or else he'd slip into 'insult Akane' mode. True, it had improved a _bit_ over the years. It, at least, wasn't deadly anymore, but it still tasted foul.

He shrugged to himself, deciding that it couldn't hurt to say that she cared about him. She _did_, after all. She was always helping him out of sticky situations with his fiancées and always got really upset whenever something bad happened to him. He brought pen to paper again and wrote something else.

'She cares about me'

This got him thinking about all the times that she'd been genuinely nice to him, not calling him a jerk or bashing him around the head. They were rare occasions, but always very nice and such a pleasant change. The times when she'd do something nice for him or be in such a happy mood that no insult that he could throw at her could bring her down. Those special occasions where the two of them could just hang out together peacefully, enjoying each other's company. Smiling again, he brought the pen to the paper, but paused, wondering how best to phrase this. Once he'd figured something out, he then continued on with writing it.

'She's sweet when she wants to be'

He smirked lightly at it; there, it wasn't too praising and it wasn't too insulting. Just right, coming from Ranma Saotome. Going back to thinking, he recalled Akane once saying that she liked him just the way he was. This brought a smile to his face and he was about to write that when he suddenly decided against it. After all, she wasn't the only person in the world who liked him the way he was, so it was rather pointless writing that. Ukyo did too, as well as his father and the rest of the Tendo family. That much had been evident as soon as they'd told him about how he'd banged his head, thought he was a girl and everyone around the house – except Happosai – had actually missed the _real_ Ranma. Besides this, writing 'She likes me the way I am' had an undertone of sappiness to it that was making him cringe... and he certainly wasn't about to write something that made him look sappy.

He then imagined Akane punching and kicking the crap out of a straw dummy around the back of the Tendo dojo, but wasn't sure how this would be useful to him. Sure, he liked how she was into martial arts, but a lot of people that he knew were. It just didn't single Akane out enough. He then suddenly recalled the time when they'd travelled through the tunnel of lost love together and she'd been screaming girlishly the whole time... as well as the several occasions that he'd seen her cry. He pressed the end of the pen to his chin; thinking about it, she could actually be pretty girly sometimes and really tomboyish other times... and that could be oddly endearing. He smiled and wrote something else on the paper.

'She's tough, yet sensitive'

Looking at the list that he had, he was pretty much satisfied. He'd listed six things and that was a nice well-rounded number. He was just about to sit up when his brain told him that something was still missing. He frowned and stared back at the list, wondering what it could be. What was he missing? Was there something else that he could gain out of comparing her to his other fiancées, maybe? He thought harder and tried to come up with the answer.

He thought about how Shampoo had only fallen in love with him because he'd become her fiancé after beating her in a fight and how she only wanted to marry him so that she could restore her lost honour – from losing in a fight to his girl form – enough to go back home to China... he thought about how Ukyo had only fallen in love with him after he'd become her fiancé because of a dowry exchange between their fathers and how she only wanted to marry him to restore the honour that she'd lost from him 'running away' and leaving her... he thought about how Kodachi had only fallen in love with him after he'd saved her when she'd hit her head and fallen off a building – that she still didn't know had been his fault in the first place – and how she only wanted to marry him because she was downright obsessed with him. Actually, they pretty much all were.

His eyes widened slightly as he realised that Akane hadn't done any of that. When he'd become _her_ fiancé, she'd openly protested about it... and she'd never once pestered him in an attempt to get him to marry her. That brought back home the point about her saving him from situations where he'd either been taken advantage of or forced into something. He blinked to himself, realising exactly what that seventh point was. He twisted his mouth slightly, because he knew that, if she didn't guess it from the points that were listed before it, she'd certainly pick it up from _this_ one that he was comparing her with his other fiancées. He paused for a moment, then sighed, knowing full well that it would be more stupid _not_ to write it than to write it, because it was important and, therefore, needed to be said. Bringing the pen to the paper, he wrote one last thing.

'She treats me like a person, instead of just a prize to be won'

He gave a half-hearted smile as he read over that last point; if either Shampoo, Ukyo or Kodachi ever read that – and understood that he was referring to _them_ – he'd surely be in for it.

_Oh, well..._ He sat up, stretched and picked up the list and his diploma. _It needs to be said, I guess._ He stood up and made his way to the staircase. _God, I hope Akane appreciates what I've written. It took me too freaking long to write this list._

As he opened the door, closed it behind him and headed back down the stairs, he wondered in vague amusement to himself what Akane had written as _her_ list to _him_. He could only imagine. Of course, he _did_ have some pretty awesome qualities to his personality, if he did say so himself, but, with Akane being... well, Akane, she was most likely to simply write 'Ranma, you jerk' on the paper. However, if she had enough sense and self-control – and he couldn't help but smirk at the thought – it would be interesting to see what positive things she could say about him. Ah, well... only time would tell...


	2. Graduation Day Part Two

Author's notes: Hey, Ranma 1/2 fans! I'm back with another chapter!

I noticed (ashamedly) that, in chapter one, I made some rather horrible mistakes with story events. This is what caused me to decide to watch the entire show over again, just so that I don't get anything wrong... but, if I do ever manage to make mistakes like that in the future, please let me know, so that I can fix them.

Lastly, the deal that I mentioned in the summary didn't manage to fit into this chapter, so it'll definitely be in chapter three.

**Chapter Two****: Graduation Day – Part Two**

Although Miss Amaya had allowed her students to leave their classroom for a while – and most of them, including Ranma, had done so – Akane had decided to stay right where she was, in order to work on her list. Miss Amaya had also left the classroom, so, currently, she was one of only five people still in there.

She stared down angrily at the blank piece of paper in front of her, the black pen clenched tightly in her hand; there were simply no words to describe how utterly pissed off at Miss Amaya she was for this. She didn't _want_ to have to list the things that she liked most about Ranma! Her relationship with him was as rocky as one could possibly get and this list would only throw a spanner in the works and complicate matters.

_He's a jerk!_ she thought, clenching the pen tighter. She could feel the plastic slowly cracking in her hand. _An insensitive jerk who's always making fun of me, calling me names, insulting my cooking and telling me that he wants nothing to do with me! Argh! Damn you, Miss Amaya! Damn you to hell!_

She'd known from the very beginning that this assignment would be difficult, since Ranma's negative qualities always seemed to outweigh his positives. Honestly, she had no idea where to start. God, she was so utterly tempted to write all the things that she hated about him instead, since that would be so much easier, but she knew that she just couldn't do that. She'd been told to list his _best_ qualities, not his worst, and Akane Tendo was not one to back down from any sort of challenge... not even one as stupid as this, which was certainly saying something, considering all the stupid challenges that she'd encountered in the past.

She told herself to focus, to clear her mind of all negative thoughts and to be true to her heart. This proved fruitless, however. No matter how much she stared at the paper, she simply couldn't think of anything to write and this only served to aggravate her more. She watched as the minutes slowly ticked by on the clock on the wall... and as the four other students around her finished their lists one at a time and left the classroom. Eventually, she was the only one left in there.

She raised her free hand and ran it aggressively through her short dark blue hair, grinding her elbow into the desk as she did so; why did this have to be so hard? She was sure that, if she'd been given anyone other than Ranma to write a list about, she'd have gotten it done by now... leaving her plenty of time to wander around the school in a carefree manner and say goodbye to all her friends and classmates. Closing her eyes and trying to calm her frazzled nerves, she cast her mind back in an attempt to think of something good to write.

Suddenly, she remembered all the times that she'd been kidnapped. God, how many times had it happened? She wasn't sure. She'd been kidnapped by Mousse, Sentaro, Pantyhose Taro, Kirin, Prince Toma... Was there anyone else? She couldn't really remember, but something that she _did_ remember was that, every time it had happened – excluding both incidents with Sentaro – Ranma had always been the one to come rushing to her aid. This brought a slight smile to her face, as it showed that, deep down, he truly did care about her. She brought pen to paper and wrote something.

'He cares about me'

Looking over what she'd just written, she was instantly reminded of the fact that, no matter what challenge Ranma was faced with, he would always face it head on. Hell, even on the rare occasion that he lost a fight, he'd keep coming back again until he won. She'd always found this a rather admirable quality in him. True, she felt that the reasoning behind it was pure stubbornness, but she'd be much less impressed with him if he just gave up after a defeat. The smile left her face as she remembered the time when Happosai had drained him of his fighting ability. That had, in turn, drained him of his will to fight and she'd felt unbelievable pity for him, seeing him simply give up like he had. She'd felt like crying that day. Fortunately, that was merely a one-off occasion and she seriously doubted that she'd ever see it again. Allowing herself half a smile, she wrote something else.

'He never gives up'

A part of her also wanted to mention how she liked the fact that he was so strong, so fast, so agile, so acrobatic... and, basically, an all-round fantastic martial artist, but she refrained from doing so. Scowling slightly, she figured that, if she did _that_, it would be practically like throwing in the towel and actually _admitting_ that he was a better martial artist than her. She wouldn't do that if her life depended on it! She did have her pride after all, like he had his ego... and she'd much rather cut her own hand off than let his ego win out over her pride.

Shaking her head to clear it of negative thoughts, she went back to thinking of a few more things that she could list. She glanced out the window for some inspiration and saw nothing but a blue sky covered by clouds and trees. The sheer exasperation she felt at both having to do this bloody assignment _and_ being stuck for inspiration made her sigh in aggravation. God, she wished that she could just write this goddamn list and get out of here. Hell, she wished that Miss Amaya had never even _suggested_ this assignment in the first place!

She looked back down at her paper, with her two measly points written on it, and decided that she seriously needed to get cracking on this thing. Otherwise, she was likely to get no time at all to relax, mingle and say her goodbyes. Scowling in determination, she straightened in her seat and stared at the paper, willing herself to think up a few more points to write down.

It was then that she recalled how nice he could be sometimes... when he wasn't calling her an uncute tomboy with thighs that were too thick and a body that was built like a stick. A surge of anger welled up inside her at the memory, but she forced herself to push it back down; now was not the time for that. She had to focus! Shaking her head again, she thought about the few rare occasions where he'd been genuinely nice to her, even going a whole day without insulting her sometimes. She smiled in fondness, wishing in her heart that the two of them could have more days like that, like that one Christmas night when he'd put his arm around her as they'd watched the shooting stars... or the day that he'd painted her a huge banner of apology after he'd caused her to fracture her leg. Suddenly feeling very happy, she was about to write something else on the paper, but paused. She didn't want to sound _too_ praising, so how could she phrase it? Once she thought of something, she continued.

'He's sweet when he wants to be'

She tapped the pen against her chin, wondering what else she could possibly add to the list. It was at that moment that she noticed that she'd completely cracked the plastic of Miss Amaya's pen. Her heart skipped a beat in panic.

_Oh, crap..._ she thought, _I hope I don't get in trouble for that..._ She sighed in exasperation again. _Here's hoping the hippy lets me off easy._

Staring at her list again, her mind drifted off to think about her life before Ranma had come along and turned it upside down. It was certainly true that her life hadn't been normal – after all, she'd had to fight off a horde of perverted boys every morning before school – but it sure as hell had been a lot more normal than it was _now_. She was now living in a messed-up world of Jusenkyo curses, pushy suitors, even pushier fiancées, unorthodox weaponry and the most imaginative forms of martial arts that she'd ever encountered.

She blinked, suddenly realising something; without Ranma, she would never have experienced such a crazy life. Now, she'd complained about it many a time, but, honestly, her life would be a lot more boring without him. He was, after all, not only a top-level martial artist, but also a boy who could turn into a girl at the slightest splash of cold water. She frowned for a moment as she thought about it; would she have preferred the boring life? It had been much more simplistic, that was for sure... but, then again, Ranma's very presence had managed to introduce her to so many things in the world that she'd never thought were possible. She smiled again, knowing full well that she'd much prefer the crazy messed-up life over the boring life. There hadn't yet been a day since Ranma had come along where she'd been bored. She gently gripped the pen and wrote something else.

'His fast-paced life and gender-changing make my life exciting'

She read over what she'd just written and lightly chuckled to herself; she just hoped that Miss Amaya didn't read this list, since the woman was fairly new to the school and, therefore, knew nothing about Ranma's curse. She was sure that the hippy would probably think that Ranma was a transsexual or something and freak out about it. She paused a moment to think over what she'd just thought and laughed.

_Well, I guess Ranma __**is**__ a transsexual, really, isn't he? Kinda._ She then suddenly got lost in the thought of his two forms, his handsome male form and his beautiful female form, and actually considered listing the fact that she found him extremely attractive. Quickly snapping back to reality, she shook her head violently. _Oh, no no no! There's no way in hell that I'm telling him how good-looking he is. No way!_ She paused.** _That_**_ one can be kept a secret._

Willing herself to focus her concentration back on the list, she shook off the thought and concentrated. Lightly chewing on the end of the pen, she glanced towards the door, which was wide open with students walking past it in both directions. After only a few moments of doing this, she began to notice various boys that had, over the years, either simply drooled over her or had attempted to win her heart. She scowled as she watched several familiar faces stroll by, laughing and joking together, yet, thankfully, not noticing her.

She stared up at the ceiling, continuing to chew on the pen, as she realised something; sure, Ranma was a pervert – despite all protests that he made against the claim – but he wasn't _much_ of one, compared to all the other boys in the world. She took the pen out of her mouth and smiled; yeah, that was one of the things that she liked most about him... the fact that he always attempted to be chivalrous. Yes, he'd fallen on top of her, hugged her, kissed her whilst under the influence of Cat Fu and grabbed her every now and then – and she really had to fight down her anger at his uncouth actions by this point – but it was very tame compared to all the other stuff that she'd had to put up with over the years. She brought the pen to the paper, but paused, contemplating exactly what to write. She still believed him to be perverted – because the various signs always pointed to that and she was very used to perverted boys – so he wasn't completely clean-minded, like she believed Ryoga was. As soon as she'd figured something out, she continued.

'He's one of the least perverted guys I know'

She smiled at what she'd written and nodded; perfect. It described how she felt about that little issue perfectly. Allowing her thoughts to linger on the fact that he did seem to come into bodily contact with her far too often for her tastes, she recalled that, unlike her other suitors – mainly Tatewaki – Ranma never openly chased after her or glomped her on a regular basis. He always seemed to keep a reasonable distance away from her – whilst in public, at least – and she'd always found said reasonable distance comforting. Whenever this happened, she would seriously question whether or not he really _was_ the pervert that she'd taken him to be. Shaking her head in amusement, she hovered the pen above the paper, but paused again. She thought about it for a moment, then wrote something else.

'He often respects my personal space'

Satisfied, she put down the pen and stretched, cracking a few loose disks in her spine back into place as she did so. Well, she was pretty certain that she'd written a decent amount of points for her list. She glanced back down at it and counted six, which was a fairly well-rounded number. She was about to stand up and walk out of the classroom when she suddenly halted, thinking back over the event that had taken place every school morning before Ranma had entered her life. Thanks to Tatewaki Kuno, she'd been constantly attacked by a horde of disgusting perverts who'd wanted nothing more than to win the chance to take her on a date. None of them had ever cared about how _she'd_ felt. In all honesty, even if one of them _had_ defeated her, there'd have been no way in hell that she'd have gone on a date with him. She'd never been part of Tatewaki's little scheme and had never wanted to be. The only boy who cared about her feelings enough not to pursue her so blindly was Ranma. Hell, even Ryoga had pursued her once... or, at least, that had been what it had looked like. The next day, his personality had changed back to normal, which had really confused her. She smiled warmly, recalling how Ranma had been the one to get all those perverted boys to stop pursuing her, simply by defeating Tatewaki. She'd never said so – and still wasn't intending to – but she'd always been eternally grateful to him for that. She picked up the pen and wrote one last thing.

'He treats me like a person, not a prize to be won'

She picked up the list and her rolled-up diploma before standing up. _There... all done._ She stepped to the side and pushed her chair back under the desk. _God, Ranma better appreciate this list. It took me too freaking long to write._ Humming a song called 'Little Date' that she'd heard on a music channel the previous night, she strolled out of the classroom.

* * *

The moment that Ranma had come down from the roof, his other fiancée that attended Furinkan High – Ukyo Kuonji – had ambushed him with a glomp to the arm, a smile and a "Ranma-honey!" since – because she'd been in Miss Hinako's class again that year – she'd not seen him for most of the day. At the moment, they were having a fairly pleasant conversation.

"It's gonna be weird leaving Furinkan High, isn't it?" Ukyo asked in a nostalgic tone.

"Yeah," Ranma replied, folding his arms behind his head. "You gonna be continuing the family business?"

Ukyo chuckled. "Of course, sugar! The Kuonjis live and breathe okonomiyaki, so expect more of it after we've graduated."

Ranma felt his stomach grumble at the mere thought and certainly couldn't keep the happy smile off his face. "Awesome!"

"What about _you_? What do _you_ plan on doing?"

Ranma stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Eh, I dunno. I'll try and find some work somewhere that fits in with my martial arts training."

Ukyo waved her hand around. "Yeah? Well, good luck with that."

"Thanks." Ranma paused before looking back at Ukyo. "Say, Ucchan? Did Miss Hinako give you an assignment to do today?"

"Hmm?" Ukyo blinked at him in confusion. "No, why?"

Ranma groaned. "'Cause Miss Amaya gave _us_ an assignment."

Ukyo's eyes widened in surprise. "On the last day of school? What was it, Ranchan?"

"I had to write a list of all the things I like most about Akane." He paused and watched Ukyo lean forward slightly, her eyes widening further. He scoffed and glanced in the opposite direction. "You wouldn't _believe_ how difficult that was. Stupid tomboy doesn't _have_ many good qualities to her." He suddenly saw something familiar out of the corner of his eye. "Huh?" He turned to look at it and saw Akane nearby, scowling with such ferocity that it looked like her face was about to crack. His heart stopped and his stomach dropped into oblivion. "Oh, crap." He jumped back and put on his innocent face. "Uh, hey, Akane! How's it going?"

Akane brooded silently for a moment, gripping the handle of her book bag so tightly it looked like it was going to snap in half. She then turned her head to the side.

"Hmph!" she said. "As if I care what you think of me, you jerk! Just go back to flirting with Ukyo, since you seem to like her so much!"

His anger taking hold of him, he was about to say something insulting in return when he was radically interrupted.

"Hey, Akane!" a female voice called out.

Akane immediately seemed to drop her anger as she turned to look at her two best friends, Sayuri and Yuka. "Oh, hey, guys."

Sayuri continued talking while holding up a camera. "It's about _time_ we found you. Mind if I take a few pictures?"

Ranma instantly felt Ukyo latch onto his arm again, much to his chagrin. "Sure!" she replied for Akane. "Take one of me and Ranma-honey, will you?"

Akane scowled at him again and he tried the innocent face a second time, hoping that it would calm her obvious jealousy. It didn't, though, as usual.

"Aww," Yuka said, smirking lightly, "and we were so hoping to get a picture of Ranma with _Akane_..."

Much to his annoyance, Ranma felt himself blushing slightly. He pulled a face and looked away. "Yeah, whatever," he replied. "We can get that over with next."

Akane turned to him, looking unconvinced. "You sure you'd want your picture taken with such an uncute tomboy? When you've got your _cute fiancée_ on your arm?"

Ranma felt his blood boil at this remark. "Hey! Just 'cause you're uncute, don't mean I don't want my picture taken with you!" Akane looked mildly surprised at this declaration, yet still somewhat annoyed. "Hey, look, it's the last day of school and we're in the building, holding our diplomas! It's my last chance at getting a picture like that, so, if I refuse _now_, I can never get it back!"

Akane's annoyance seemed to disappear completely now. She stared at him. "Ranma..."

Ranma's guard lowered at the sight of her face, so his pride kicked in to compensate. He looked away. "It don't mean I _like_ ya or nothin'. It's just... our dads'd probably _prefer_ it if we were in at least _one_ photo together."

Akane paused for a moment before smiling and giggling. "Okay, Ranma... whatever you say."

* * *

After Ranma had had his photographs taken with first Ukyo, then Akane, then both on either side of him, he and Akane went back to their classroom to get the final part of their assignment over with, which was to hand each other their lists while Miss Amaya watched. By now, most of the students in the building had gone home – including Ukyo, who'd stated that she had a business to run now that school was out and that she'd see Ranma later – so, when they entered the classroom, they were one of three pairs of students in there.

"Hey, thanks again, man!" one of the boys said to his partner as the two of them walked out of the room together.

"Right back at'cha, dude!" the other boy replied.

"Ah!" Miss Amaya said with glee, clapping her hands together and standing up. "Why, if it isn't Mr. Saotome and Miss Tendo! I was beginning to think you two had ditched me and gone home!"

Ranma scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Aheh..." he said, "nope, we're still here, teach."

"Well, go ahead! Hand your lists to one another, so I can see your reactions!" She beamed as she linked her hands behind her back in a strange schoolgirl pose. "After all, haven't I always said that peace and love make the world go round? Be a morale-booster and send each other off with a bang!"

Trying to force down the queasy feeling in his stomach from her words, Ranma reached into his pocket and pulled out his folded list. He watched as Akane reached into her book bag and pulled out her own folded list. He hesitated, unsure of himself, before holding his out to her.

"Uh... here you go, Akane."

She took it from him slowly, completely avoiding his eyes. "Thanks, Ranma..." She held out her own. "And here's _yours_..."

He took it from her. "Thanks."

Silence fell over the two of them as he stared at her list, gulping down the nervousness that he was suddenly feeling. What on Earth could she have written about him? Did he really want to know? And did he really need to get so worked up over it? What did _he_ care what she thought about him? After a few tense moments, he unfolded the list and read it.

The further he read down the list, the more surprised and the less nervous he felt. Not only had she been really nice and thoughtful towards him with this list, but the points listed on it were shockingly similar to the ones that _he'd_ written for _her_. As he read over them again, just to be sure that he wasn't seeing things, he felt his heart burning with a rather uncomfortable, yet strangely pleasant, emotion. He glanced up at Akane and saw that she was looking at him with the same emotions that he was currently feeling reflected in her eyes; she was shocked... she was flattered... and she'd completely dropped her guard.

She blushed before smiling at him. "Wow. Thanks, Ranma."

Affection flooded around his body and he couldn't help but smile back at her. "No problem. Thanks to you too, Akane."

"Aww!" the one remaining female in the classroom cooed, causing Ranma's blood to freeze in sheer horror and panic. He noticed a similar expression to the one that he was most likely wearing on Akane's face. "Isn't that cute?"

"Yeah!" her male partner said, laughing, as the two of them walked out the door. "Two regular lovebirds, they are!"

"Hey!" Akane shouted in protest after they'd gone. "It's not _like_ that!"

Miss Amaya giggled childishly. "Oh, wow, that was so incredibly sweet!" she said, causing Ranma to gawk in horror at her. "I've given out this assignment _tons_ of times in various schools over the years, but I've never seen anything quite so adorable!"

Akane's face turned bright red at this remark. "Miss Amaya!"

"Well, that was fun, but it's about time you crazy kids went home." Miss Amaya practically skipped out the door. "Enjoy the rest of your lives, children!"

There were a few moments of silence before Akane sighed and put a hand to her head. "Honestly..."

Ranma chuckled, eager to lift the tension that was now in the room. "Ah, well," he said. "How about we go home then, Akane?"

Akane smiled at him as she dropped her hand back down to her book bag. "Sure. Let's go."

Returning their pens to the pen pot – Ranma getting a good laugh out of the fact that Akane had cracked the plastic on hers – they walked out the classroom door, side-by-side, and headed home.


	3. It's A Deal

Author's note: Okay, fellow Ranma 1/2 fans! Here we are (at last) with the 'deal' chapter. Ranma and Akane's deal is going to shape the foundations of their relationship. You'll see what I mean when you get to it.

A big shout out to my friend, Alastair, who is, surprisingly, enjoying this fic, despite never having known about Ranma 1/2 before I spent about two hours explaining it to him. XD

**Chapter Three: It's A Deal**

Ranma had a happy smile that he simply couldn't get off his face as he walked home along the fence; the list from Akane was grasped in his hand – his diploma safely tucked away in the book bag on his back – and he couldn't stop thinking about it. She'd actually been nice! Akane Tendo had been nice to him! He hadn't thought she'd be capable of writing a list of things that she liked about him, but in his hand was solid proof that she _was_! It was a lovely feeling.

He glanced over at Akane, whom he could see was walking alongside him on the pavement with an equally happy smile on her face as she continued to read over his list to her. This gave him the urge to read over _her_ list to _him_ again. Unfolding it with both hands, he looked over it for the third time, feeling his heart swelling in his chest.

He paused a moment in consideration as he looked over a certain couple of points. _Hmm..._ he thought, _well, I can see she's done the same thing __**I**__ did with the 'He's sweet when he wants to be' point... but what about these other points? I'm __**one**__ of the least perverted guys she's ever met?_ He crinkled his face in slight annoyance._ Pch. I'm the least perverted guy in the __**world**__, thank you. Not even 'honourable old Ryoga' can hold a candle to me on **that** one... and what about __**this**__? I __**often**__ respect her personal space? I __**always **__make sure to, 'cause she'd kill me otherwise. I know I tend to have a lot of accidents, but that's just what they are: __**accidents**__._

He gave a small sigh through his nostrils; now that he was looking closely, he could easily see how hard she'd tried to neither insult nor praise him, which was exactly what _he'd_ done when writing _her_ list. Perhaps it was true, then, what people said about them? That the pride of the two of them combined could easily sink Japan?

* * *

Akane felt happier than she'd felt in a while. It wasn't often that Ranma did something to make her feel _this_ happy, so the list that he'd written for her had been more than a pleasant surprise. As she continued to read over the points, she couldn't help but continue to be surprised at how similar his list was to hers.

When her eyes strayed slightly too long on the point at the top of the list, she paused to consider it. _Okay_, she thought, _I'm fine with the whole 'She's sweet when she wants to be' thing, 'cause I wrote a similar thing... and I'm not entirely sure about the 'prize' thing, but... my violent tendencies make his life exciting? The first few times I looked at that, I read it like a compliment, yet... violent tendencies?_ She felt a tinge of anger boil inside of her. _**Is**__ that supposed to be a compliment? 'Cause it doesn't quite read like one! Violent tendencies... urgh!_ She looked further down the list. _Hmm, that's the only questionable point. The rest are pretty nice._ She paused again. _I never try to force him into anything... What could he mean by that? And what about __**this**__? Where he says I treat him not like a prize, but like a person? I wrote that too, but that's only because of the perverts at Furinkan High..._ She stopped to think about it.

"I guess Miss Amaya ain't _so_ bad, huh?" Ranma asked offhandedly.

She looked up at him, but noticed that he was staring at the list in his hand. "Hmm?" she asked.

"Well, _ya_ know..." He hesitated for a moment. "Her assignment wasn't so crackpot _after_ all, was it?"

She couldn't help but chuckle at that. "No, I guess not. We both got something nice out of it, didn't we?"

He glanced at her and smiled. "Yeah." He then went back to reading his list.

There were a few moments of awkward silence. "Ranma?"

He looked back at her. "Hmm?"

She lifted up the list and pointed to the point that was confusing her. "Just what did you mean by _this_? I can't figure it out."

He blinked in obvious confusion. "Mean by what?"

"This point here that says I never try to force you..." She halted, stopping where she was on the pavement, as realisation hit her.

Ranma had a stunned expression on his face as he also halted his walking. "A-Akane?"

A strange yet pleasant feeling washed over her. "You... you're comparing me with... _them_, aren't you? Your other fiancées?"

Ranma stared wide-eyed at her in horror for a moment. "Wh... I... you..." He blushed, then scowled. "I never said _that_!"

"But that's what you _meant_, isn't it?" She lifted the list and pointed to the last point. "You even wrote that I treat you like a person, not a-"

"Yeah, so what? You wrote the same thing! It don't _mean_ nothing!"

Both his tone and his attitude irritated her, so she couldn't help but crumple the list slightly. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, that's so!" He turned his head away angrily. "Like I'd say you're _better_ than them in any way!"

Her anger was starting to boil over by this point. "Why... you... jerk!"

He glanced dismissively at her. "Yeah? Well, _you're_ an uncute tomboy." He pulled down the skin of his eye and stuck his tongue out at her. "Neh!"

She growled, feeling the ferocity of a pit bull burning in her heart. With a battle cry to vent frustration, she swung her book bag as hard as she possibly could and dented the fence that he was standing on. Caught off-guard, he fell backwards with a yelp and landed in the canal.

"Ooh, Ranma, you are such a jerk!" She turned and walked off. "Hmph!"

"Hey!" female Ranma called out. "What'd you do _that_ for?" There was a pause. "Aww, crap! You got my list wet!"

Akane didn't stop walking; she had so much furious adrenaline pumping around her veins that the only thing that could cool her down was to use up her energy on walking. "He is such a jerk..." She unclipped her book bag, stuffed her list in it and clipped it back up, never once slowing her pace. "Jerk, jerk, jerk..."

A few minutes later, Ranma finally jumped down in front of her, her crimson red hair dripping wet, her list apparently tucked away somewhere and her blue makeup-covered eyes tightened into a disapproving frown. "You didn't have to go and do _that_, you know."

"Hmph!" Akane merely ignored her and kept walking.

"Hey!" Ranma ran up alongside her. "Don't ignore me, Akane!"

"And why not? It's not like I'm either Shampoo, Ukyo or Kodachi, so you shouldn't care about me, right? Why not go bother _them_, since you obviously like them better than me!"

"Don't be stupid, Akane! Look, will you slow down?"

Akane swung her book bag at the red-head, but she dodged it. "Will _you_ get _lost_?" She continued storming off down the street.

Ranma growled. "Akane!"

Akane stopped and turned to face Ranma, the scowl never leaving her face. "So, tell me, _Ranma_, is there _anything_ about me that's better?" Annoyingly, she felt tears prickle at the corners of her eyes. "Or am I forever going to be the underdog?"

Ranma looked stunned again. "A-Akane... Aww, no, don't start crying..."

"_Why_? What's it to _you_?"

Ranma suddenly looked rather uncomfortable. "Well..."

"_Nothing_, that's what! Now, leave me alone!" She stormed off again.

There was another moment's pause before Ranma ran ahead of her, turned around and ran backwards in front of her. "Jeez, you are so uncute!" Akane stopped dead in her tracks, her blood boiling over again at the sound of the hated adjective. Ranma stopped in front of her. "It's no wonder you ain't got a boyfriend!" Akane started shaking in her fury, tightening her fists more and more with each passing second, while Ranma slowly walked towards her. "You're dumb as a brick, built like a stick, uncute, unsexy..." She stopped a foot away from her. "And a total tomboy!"

With each blow to her self-esteem and feminine pride, Akane's temper rose higher and higher until it went completely over the egde. "Raaaaanmaaaaa!" She lifted her tightly-clenched fist. "You jerk!" She then punched her in the face as hard as she could and watched as the red-head flew backwards.

Ranma shrieked before her back crashed into a brick wall, leaving a large Ranma-shaped impression in it. "Urgh!" She hung there, suspended inside the wall. "Urgh..."

"That's what I _hate_ most about you, Ranma! The fact that you always _insult_ me!"

Ranma broke away from the wall and fell flat on her face. "Ugh!" She lifted her head up at glared at Akane. "Oh yeah? Well, since we're on the subject, you know what _I_ hate most about _you_?"

Akane scoffed. "Oh, what? My 'violent tendencies'? I thought those made your life exciting!"

Ranma jumped to her feet. "Not _that_, you moron! I mean the fact that you never _listen_ to me!"

"Say _what_?"

"_You_ know! Like, when something happens that looks _bad_! I try to explain what happened, but you never listen to me!"

"_Excuse_ me? You mean all the times you've grabbed me, groped me and even _kissed_ me? For your information, I don't _like_ people doing that sort of stuff to me without my permission!"

"Jeez, you think I do all that on purpose? It's always someone _else's_ fault, but you never give me a chance to explain!"

"Ha! 'Explain', my ass! Whenever you do something like that, you start _stuttering_, 'cause you can't think of a good excuse fast enough! It's all 'Um, uh, Akane, I can explain, I, uh, well'!"

Ranma flushed bright red at this remark, but continued to glare at her. "Yeah, well... you should know better than _anyone_ how volatile you are! People have to tiptoe around you, in case you explode! You're an active volcano, you uncute tomboy!"

Akane growled again, thoroughly pissed off. "You insensitive jerk!"

"I don't know why I put up with you!"

"Yeah? Well, _I_ don't know why I put up with _you_ either!"

"Maybe you should start listening to me!"

"Maybe _you_ should stop insulting _me_!"

The two of them stopped shouting at one another for a few moments to catch their breath. "I'll bet you wouldn't listen to me, even if I dared ya."

Akane's pride spiked at this remark. "I would too!"

Ranma suddenly gained a challenging sparkle in her blue eyes. "Really, now?"

The expression on the red-head oddly managed to calm Akane down. "Yes, really... but I'll bet _you_ wouldn't stop insulting _me_ if I dared you."

Ranma smirked. "Ha!" She pointed to herself with her thumb. "This is Ranma Saotome you're talking to. He don't back down from no challenge."

Akane narrowed her eyes in a challenging way. "Is that so?"

Ranma put her knuckles on her hips. "Damn right it is."

"Hmm." Akane paused, contemplating something. "Okay then." She walked towards the red-head, who looked slightly surprised at being approached. "Then how's about we make an agreement."

Ranma blinked at her. "I'm listening."

Akane pointed at her. "If _you_ stop insulting _me_, calling me an 'uncute tomboy' and the like..." She pointed to herself. "Then _I'll_ start listening to _you_ when you have one of your little... accidents." She couldn't help but frown at the word as she lowered her hand back down to her book bag. "Deal?"

Ranma blinked again, looking utterly perplexed, then she smiled. "Okay. Deal."

* * *

Ranma had suffered the indignity of being turned into a girl and had felt her anger soar through the roof when arguing with Akane – even causing her to blurt out something that she never thought she'd say, concerning the blue-haired girl's inability to listen – but she felt fairly content now. The two of them had reached a strange agreement, which she was hoping would improve their relationship somewhat.

She slid open the front door. "We're home!" she and Akane said at the same time before stepping inside. She slid the door shut and the two proceeded to take their shoes off.

"Oh, hello, Akane," the eldest Tendo sister, Kasumi, said with a bright smile as she walked over to greet them. "You too, Ranma."

"Hi, Kasumi," Akane replied.

"How was your last day of school, you two?"

"Eh, not bad," Ranma replied. "Less crazy than usual."

"Which is a _good_ thing," Akane added.

"How nice," Kasumi replied, the bright smile never leaving her face.

"Is Nabiki home yet?"

"No, she's due home later. She'll be on the train in a short while."

"Okay."

Ranma watched as Akane walked away from her and up the stairs, no doubt heading towards her bedroom to get changed, so she decided to do the same. She wasn't getting dressed, of course, but she'd gotten used to storing her book bag in her and Genma's room. More often than not, she'd been late in the mornings, so it had been a good idea to have her book bag handy... not that she'd need it anymore now.

As soon as she'd finished doing that, she headed back downstairs, walked into the living room and turned on the television. Nearby, Soun and Genma were seated in their usual positions on the back porch, kneeling at opposite ends of a shogi board.

"Hello, Ranma," Soun said, looking up from the shogi board. Genma took this opportunity to switch a few pieces around. "How was your last day?"

"Not too bad," Ranma replied, as she knelt by the low table and picked up the remote. She was purposely avoiding the topic of what she'd had to do that day, since, if she mentioned it, it would probably lead to both fathers having a song and dance about an upcoming marriage or something.

Soun smiled. "That's good to know." He looked back at the shogi board and suddenly bore a shocked expression. "What the-? But that was-!" He scowled at Genma. "Saotome!"

Genma smiled innocently. "Why, whatever's the matter, Tendo?" he asked.

Soun pointed angrily at him. "You dirty cheat! You moved the pieces around again, didn't you? _Didn't_ you?"

Genma picked up a hidden bucket of cold water and poured it over himself, instantly turning into a panda. He then threw the bucket away and completely ignored Soun's question. Soun dropped his hand back down to his side and lowered his head in defeat.

Ranma averted her gaze back to the television and began flipping through the channels, not terribly interested in this conversation, since she'd heard it far too many times over the last three years. She was more interested in what was for dinner later, as well as the deal that she and Akane had made not long ago.

_Is she seriously going to start listening to me from now on?_ she wondered. _I wouldn't put it past her to simply forget about it and pound me again, but..._ _she's got way too much pride to turn down a challenge, so, maybe, she __**will**__ stick to her word... It'll certainly be interesting to see the results._

* * *

A short while after Ranma had knelt down to watch television, Akane came back downstairs, dressed in a shirt and skirt, walked into the living room and knelt down opposite her. For a few moments, she watched what was on the television, then she turned to Ranma.

"Still not changed back?" she asked.

Ranma, her elbow on the table, gave her a glazed look. "Can't be bothered," she replied.

Akane didn't look impressed. "Pfft." She stood up. "Want _me_ to do it?"

Ranma shrugged. "Eh." She looked back at the television. "Sure."

Akane huffed. "So lazy." She walked off in the direction of the kitchen.

Ranma continued to watch the comedy show for a couple of minutes before she suddenly felt scorching hot water being poured on her head. Wide-eyed in shock, she yelped. "Hot! Hot! Hot!" A moment later, now a boy again, he glared heatedly at Akane. "Hey! What'd you do _that_ for?"

"Hmph." Akane threw the kettle that she was holding to one side. "Well, you _did_ say you wanted to be a boy again."

"Yeah, but that was _way_ too hot!"

She looked away from him with an uncaring expression. "Too bad."

Ranma huffed and went back to looking at the television. "Man, you are so un-" He froze, suddenly realising that he wasn't allowed to say that anymore. "Un..."

Akane knelt back down opposite him. "Un-_what_, Ranma?"

He had to struggle to fight down the insane urge to call her 'uncute'. He'd become so used to calling her that that it just rolled off the tongue these days... but he simply _refused_ to back down from the challenge that she'd laid down for him. Ranma Saotome was anything but a quitter, so any challenge, no matter how small or insignificant, had to be seen through to the end. Otherwise, it would make him look weak... make him look like he couldn't _handle_ the set challenge... and he simply wouldn't allow that. Besides, if he held up _his_ end of the deal, then Akane would hold up _hers_, which would mean that she'd actually _listen_ to him before pounding him into oblivion.

"Nothing, Akane..."

There was a pause. "That's what I like to hear!" She sounded very cheerful now.

* * *

A couple of hours after Akane had knelt down to watch television with Ranma, the two were now in the dojo. Akane, who was wearing her gi, was making wild swings at Ranma with her fists and feet and he was dodging them with ease. As per usual, Akane was getting annoyed about it.

"Goddamn it, Ranma!" she shouted, missing his face with her fist. "Fight back for once!"

"How many times have I gotta tell ya, Akane?" Ranma asked, jumping away from her leg. "I don't fight girls."

"The same stupid excuse every time! Why can you never take me seriously?"

Ranma back-flipped in mid-air and landed on his feet. "I _can_, okay? If you were a boy, I'd _fight_ you."

Akane roared like a dragon, swinging at him at as fast a pace as she could manage. "Always with the freaking double standards!"

Ranma had no trouble dodging her blows. "_You're_ one to talk. You're the _queen_ of double standards."

"Shut up, you-!"

"Having fun in here?" a female voice asked amusedly from the doorway. They both stopped their practice fight and turned to see Nabiki standing there, leaning on the doorframe with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face.

"Oh, hey, Nabiki. When did _you_ get home?"

"Just a minute ago." She looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Oh yeah." She looked back at them. "Kasumi said to tell you dinner's almost ready."

Ranma smiled, suddenly feeling very hungry. "Alright!" he said in delight.

"So, how's university been?" Akane asked.

Nabiki pushed herself away from the doorframe. "Oh, same old same old."

Ranma smirked. "So, is it likely they'll let you back for _another_ year?" he asked. "Or did you swindle them outta too much money?"

Nabiki mock-gasped, one of her hands flying to her mouth. "Why, Ranma, is _that_ what you think of me?" She lowered the hand and clasped it near her heart, tilting her head so that her dark brown bangs covered her eyes. "I'm hurt that you would even _suggest_ such a thing..." Ranma, not the slightest bit impressed, lowered his eyelids at her. She looked back up at him and smirked again. "I only swindle fellow _students_, not staff members. That would be just plain stupid."

Akane groaned. "Oh, Nabiki..." she said.

Kasumi poked her head around the dojo door. "Ranma, Akane, Nabiki," she said cheerfully. "Dinner's ready."

"Coming, Kasumi."

The four of them exited the dojo, one after the other, and headed for the living room. Ranma, getting hungrier with every step, was very much looking forward to a delicious meal filling his now grumbling stomach. He was also hoping to get a quiet evening relaxing afterwards, but, seeing as he hadn't seen Happosai yet today – not to mention the fact that this was Nerima – he was fairly certain that he wouldn't get it.


	4. Don't Give Up Now

Author's note: Hey again!

Well, my only note this time is that I wasn't sure how long the gap is between leaving high school and getting your exam results in Japan (or, at least, in the anime Azumanga Daioh, where I got the information from), so I guessed at two weeks. If this is wrong, just tell me and I'll keep it in mind for the future chapters.

**Chapter Four****: Don't Give Up Now**

It was the day after Ranma and Akane's little deal and Ranma was currently soaking himself in a hot bath while singing The Big Hips Blues. He had no idea why he was singing it, but he _was_... and was enjoying himself at that.

"Oh, the big hips bluuuuues, yeah..." he sang.

So far, things had gone reasonably well with Akane, although it was difficult to say how long that would last, considering their track record and the fact that the deal had only been made yesterday. However, he was hopeful; this might be the one time in their history together that their shared pride could actually prove to be a _good_ thing.

He was just about to continue onto the next verse when he suddenly felt a wave of freezing cold water wash over him like a waterfall. He shrieked and noticed with much annoyance that the pitch and tone of his voice had gone up several octaves. The now female Ranma turned angrily towards the window to see who had done that, but instantly felt something latch onto her chest.

"Hello, _baby_!" Happosai said happily as he snuggled into her. "How sweet!"

She felt her skin crawl at how revolting the situation was and, when she could take no more, angrily punched the two-foot-tall pervert off of her. "You old freak!"

Happosai bounced across the bathroom tiles and rolled backwards before coming to a stop and glaring at her. "Ranma! When are you gonna learn to respect your elders?"

Ranma growled, pissed off at the insolence of this old man. "I _do_ respect 'em!" She swept her hand across the water – which was now much cooler than it had been before – and sent a wave crashing down on him. "But _you're_ a different story, you sad excuse for a leprechaun!"

Happosai was now dripping wet and looking rather angry. "How dare you!"

Ranma sunk lower under the water to cover her exposed chest and huffed. "Get over it, ya freak."

Happosai huffed back at him and suddenly started to cry. "You're always so mean to me, Ranma..." Ranma lowered her eyelids at him, disinterested and unimpressed. Happosai sniffled. "Always picking on me... Fine! Then I'll go see Akane!" His tears immediately disappeared, as if by magic, and he smiled fondly. "Perhaps raiding her underwear drawer will make me feel better."

Ranma felt a spark of anger as he watched Happosai leave the bathroom. "Oh, no, you don't! Hey! You leave Akane's underwear alone, you old freak! Hey! Get back here!"

She growled; she had to stop him at all costs. She knew how much it pissed Akane off to have her underwear stolen by this guy and understood how degrading it must feel. God, it made her shiver in sheer disgust whenever she thought about how utterly perverted the guy was.

Deciding that she simply couldn't just sit by and watch, she jumped out of the bath, turned on the hot water tap and splashed herself just enough to change forms. The now male Ranma then turned the tap off and hurried to the pile of clothes waiting outside the bathroom. The old freak was _not_ going to get away with this.

* * *

"What a haul! What a haul!" Happosai yelled in delight as he bounded down the corridor, the rucksack on his back full of his newly-collected undergarments.

As Ranma chased after him, determined to catch him and make him pay for what he'd done, he felt astounded at how the old goat had managed to steal half of Akane's underwear so fast. He'd gotten dried and dressed as fast as he'd been able to and he'd still not been fast enough to stop him.

"Get back here!" he yelled, racing down corridor after corridor, through room after room, in a desperate attempt to catch him and pound him.

Happosai laughed at him. "Make me!"

Ranma was getting _really_ annoyed now. No one challenged both his pride _and_ his abilities at the same time and got away with it. "You asked for it!" He increased his speed, certain that he'd catch up to him now.

Happosai spun around, bounding backwards, and pulled a firecracker from his gi. "Happo Fire Burst!"

He threw it and Ranma only had time to shriek in horror before it exploded and sent him crashing to the floor, smoking slightly. Happosai laughed again and ran forward, bouncing on his chest like he was a trampoline and running away.

Ranma twitched, the pain and shock rather unbearable at the moment. "Old... freak..." It was then that he realised that something soft – yet with a hard section on it – had fallen on his face. He blinked, forgetting his pain, and sat up. The object landed on his lap, so he picked it up to examine it; it was a white bra, but slightly heavier than the ones that Happosai _usually_ stole. He tugged on the straps in vague interest, then felt below the cup area to see what was causing the extra weight. "Huh... metal... Must be one of those _underwire_ bras." He pulled a face as he went back to tugging on the straps. "Man, what awful taste in underwear..."

He suddenly felt a cold chill run down his spine... the kind of cold chill that a person only gets if their death sentence is staring them in the face. Instantly recognising the chill – and feeling his heart ramming against his ribcage at the realisation – he slowly turned to look at the one person that his lousy luck told him would be standing there.

Akane was looking murderous. Her eyes blazed with a hatred that told him he'd be six feet under in a few moments... and her battle aura was flaring so much, it looked like she was on fire.

"Raaaaanmaaaaa..." she growled in a dangerously low voice, her fingers flexing by her sides. "What are you doing with my _bra_?"

_Explanation time!_ he thought in a panic. _Quick!_ He threw the bra to one side. "Uh, well, you see, Akane, it... I... uh... it's not what it looks like!" _Crap, I'm stuttering again! I've gotta find a way to stop doing that!_

"You _pervert_!"

She pulled back her leg and he instantly knew that she was planning on kicking him straight through the screen door. He had to stop her, quick. His brain worked furiously in those couple of seconds until a thought came to mind. It was his only hope, so he tried it.

He clenched his eyes shut. "Let me explain!" He'd said the sentence so fast, he wasn't sure that she'd understood it. However, a few seconds later, she still hadn't kicked him. He cracked an eye open to see what she was doing.

* * *

Akane had frozen mid-kick at Ranma's words, unable to believe what she'd just been about to do, though her face remained stuck in its pissed off expression. _Oh, my God..._ she thought, _I nearly didn't... keep up my end of the deal..._ As her stance wobbled, her thoughts battled one another inside her head. _But he was touching my bra! And not just that, but also __**fondling**__ it! He's just as bad as Grandfather Happosai! But I can't kick him... I __**mustn't**__ kick him... at least not until I've heard what he has to say... But he __**deserves**__ to be kicked! But, if I kick him, I'll have broken my word and he'd never let me hear the end of it._ Her raised foot finally dropped to the floor and she battled hard against her insane desire to just boot him straight through the screen door, like she always did. _He's a pervert and all perverts deserve pain to put them in their place! But we made a deal... I mustn't break it. I mustn't!_ Her pride at keeping her word eventually won out over her pride at protecting her dignity, so she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Ranma was staring at her.

"Akane?" he asked quietly.

She could feel the pounding of her frustrated heart against her ribcage, but fought to ignore it. She pursed her lips, grinding them against her teeth for a moment. "Fine. Explain."

That had been _way_ too hard to do... and she was somewhat regretting suggesting this whole deal in the first place now. She'd really had to struggle to contain her emotions, which she very rarely bothered to do. Usually, she was all for letting her emotions flow freely with no restraint. That way, they were over and done with and made her feel much better for getting them out of the way. Doing what she'd just done was like plugging up a volcano; the gastric pressure was trying so hard to push out the lava, but the obstruction wouldn't let it, so said obstruction was suffering much battering in keeping the rebellious lava at bay.

Ranma blinked stupidly at her from his position on the floor, like he couldn't quite believe that she'd actually managed to stop herself. This just irritated her all the more. She just wished that he'd say something already!

"Huh... wow..." He smiled at her. "Nice work, Akane! You actually managed to restrain yourself!"

She couldn't help the happy blush that appeared on her cheeks from his compliment, but she kept her annoyed expression for the sake of her pride. "Well? You gonna explain yourself or what?"

He blinked again, looking confused. "Huh?" Then a look of dawning comprehension appeared on his face. "Oh yeah!" He picked up the bra and tossed it to her. She caught it easily. "The freak stole a big pile of your underwear. That one fell out."

Anger re-ignited in her heart. "He _what_?"

Ranma nodded. "Yup."

She looked off to the side. "Ooh, I'll kill him!" Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind, so she looked back at Ranma. "Wait a minute! Then explain why you were _fondling_ it like a pervert!"

Ranma suddenly looked angry. "Hey, I wasn't _fondling_ it! I was just..." A light blush appeared on his annoyed face and his voice lowered to a murmur. "I was just curious about the underwire..."

She growled, getting pissed off again. "So, you _were_ fondling it!"

"No, I was just-"

"Curiously _fondling_ it!"

"Hey, wait, I-!"

"You _need_ to fondle it to check out the underwire!"

"No, I was only _touching_ it!"

"You were fondling it!"

"Touching!"

"Fondling!"

"Touching!"

"Well, either way, you shouldn't have _been_ checking out the underwire, 'cause it's _my_ bra! And you have no right to be feeling it!"

Ranma fell silent at this, his blush turning a slightly darker shade and his angry expression melting. He glanced away from her. "Well, I..."

_Ha!_ Akane thought angrily with an air of triumph. _Can't deny __**that**__, can he?_ She relaxed her glare and stared at him, then waited a couple of seconds. He eventually locked eyes with her, like she'd wanted him to. "Mind if I kick you now?"

Ranma sighed in defeat and opened his arms in a shrug. She took that as a 'Sure, go ahead', so – building her adrenaline back up – she booted him through the screen door.

* * *

It was a couple of hours after Akane had kicked Ranma out the screen door and the two of them were now out for a walk down the street together. Neither one was saying anything, but Akane didn't mind this. After all, they'd made up not long after the incident and had even teamed up against Happosai, kicking him to the floor and stomping all over him before getting her underwear back. She knew that they'd probably regret this later, once the old man stopped sulking long enough to exact his revenge, but she didn't mind that either. Hell, she'd be surprised if he _didn't_ exact his revenge.

Suddenly, a ginger cat ran across their path – only about a foot in front of them – causing the two of them to stop walking and let it pass. Ranma screamed and jumped behind her, clinging to her shoulders like she was a life preserver. The sudden action jolted her backwards slightly.

"Hey!" she said, frowning at him. "Watch it, Ranma."

She noticed that he was shivering and simply couldn't hold her glare; she pitied his strange phobia far too much. "K-Keep that thing away from me!" he said, teeth clattering together.

She sighed. "Take it easy, Ranma... it's gone."

He coughed and straightened himself up, attempting to make himself look tougher than he'd looked a mere moment ago. "Y-Yeah, well... good riddance to it..."

She shook her head at him as he went back to standing next to her. "Honestly, Ranma... have you ever thought of trying to cure your phobia? I mean, I saw a show on TV the other night, where-"

"I am _not_ letting someone lock me in a room full of cats in a feeble attempt to cure my _fear_ of them!" The expression on his face was almost maniacal. "Do you actually think that would _work_? It'd only make things _worse_! Remember how my phobia _started_, Akane!"

Now he'd made her feel foolish for trying to help him and she hated feeling foolish. She scowled angrily at him. "Oh, well, _excuse me_ for trying to help!"

"I don't _need_ your stupid help! Just mind your own business next time, okay?"

Tears burned her eyes and she scolded herself for it. God, she really hated when that happened; it made her look and feel so weak. "Fine, I will! You jerk!"

"You uncu- uncu-" He growled, sounding extremely frustrated, then screamed to vent his frustration.

She couldn't help the slight curl on the side of her mouth as she wiped away her tears. _He wants so badly to call me 'uncute'..._ she thought gleefully, _but he can't... and he __**knows**__ he can't, 'cause he promised he wouldn't! Ha!_

"Ranmaaaaa!" a male voice called out angrily.

Akane spun around in curiosity to see who was speaking and was surprised to see a familiar bandana-wearing lost boy.

"Ryoga!"

"Yo, man!" Ranma called out casually. "How it going?"

"Don't you 'Yo, man' me!" Ryoga replied, scowling fiercely. "How _dare_ you spurn Akane's attempt to help you, you heartless jerk!"

Akane blinked at him, feeling slightly stupefied. _He doesn't have to take everything so seriously..._ she thought._ He's such a strange guy... always taking Ranma's words towards __**me**__ to heart. Why should it bother __**him**__ what Ranma says to me?_

"Hey, come _on_..." Ranma protested.

"No!" Ryoga yelled. "You're gonna pay for that!" He extended his index finger and charged towards Ranma. "Bakusaaaaai Tenketsu!"

Ranma dodged out of the way as Ryoga tried to jab him with his deadly finger. "Hey! Quit it, Ryoga!"

"Ryoga!" Akane shouted in an attempt to calm him down. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to hear her.

"Die, Ranma!" he yelled, swinging his finger forward. Ranma jumped out of the way, which left the finger to jam itself into the ground. Akane panicked as she realised what was about to happen.

The ground completely shattered, causing debris to fly everywhere. Ranma got covered in it and a few yelps informed her that he'd been hit by some large chunks of rock. This greatly worried her.

"Ranma!" she yelled, desperately wanting to rush over and help him, but she was afraid of Ryoga. He was dangerous when he was angry, so she didn't want to be anywhere near him right now.

"Alright, now you've done it!" Ranma growled. He swung his fists at Ryoga at an unimaginable speed, over and over again. "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!"

Akane's breath never seemed to stop catching in her throat whenever she saw Ranma use that technique on someone; it was simply amazing. She watched as Ryoga got pummelled repeatedly without her even noticing that Ranma's fists were making contact. Once it ended, Ryoga landed in a crumpled heap on the floor.

She suddenly snapped to her senses as she realised how hurt Ryoga now was. It was likely that he'd been travelling around Japan until now, so he'd probably been pretty tired, even _before_ the fight. "Ryoga!" She rushed over to him in worry, kneeling down to check if he was okay. "Are you alright?"

Ryoga groaned as he sat up. "Damn you, Ranma..." he growled. He then turned to Akane and his expression softened into one of concern. "Akane, are you okay? What Ranma said back there was unforgivable. Rest assured, I _will_ make him pay for that."

"Hey!" Ranma yelled in protest.

* * *

Ranma glared in annoyance at the pest that was Ryoga. _Pfft,_ he thought, _stupid pig boy always sticks his nose in where it don't __**belong**__ when it comes to Akane..._ He simply hated the way that his fiancée simpered all over the fool whenever he came on the receiving end of one of his attacks, as though _he_ was the poor little victim. Ryoga did _start_ the fight, after all... like he _always_ did.

"Aheh heh..." Akane said uncomfortably to Ryoga. "Oh, you don't have to worry about me... _really_."

Ryoga stood up, returning to glaring at Ranma while clenching a fist by his chest. "But I _do_, Akane..." He pointed angrily at him. "Because your stupid fiancé here certainly won't!"

Ranma folded his arms behind his head and gave him a half-lidded stare, disinterested in where he was taking this conversation, yet again. He then smirked. "What's the matter? You jealous, P-chan?"

Akane turned and blinked at him, utterly confused about his statement, as usual. He ignored her and focused on the now fuming Ryoga.

The lost boy charged towards him, his clenched fist raised. "Stop calling me 'P-chan'!"

Ranma had fun dodging out of the way of his punch, as well as the many that followed. All of this, he did with his arms still folded behind his head. He sniggered at how pissed off he'd made Ryoga, as well as the sheer stupidity of him _being_ so pissed off when Akane was too stupid to figure out the truth anyway. Hell, he could spell it out to the girl and she'd still have a better chance of building a rocket, flying it and landing on an undiscovered planet than figuring out that this jerk was her pet pig in disguise.

"Oink oink!" He smirked at the sight of Ryoga's scowl increasing.

"Stop it, you jerk!"

Getting bored rather quickly, Ranma lifted his leg and kicked Ryoga across the street. He landed on his back with a loud thud and skidded across the pavement.

Akane gasped. "Ranma!" she said angrily. "Stop picking on Ryoga!"

"Gimme a break, Akane... _he_ started it."

He heard Akane stand up and huff. "Honestly..."

Ryoga forced himself back to his feet and was about to say something when thunder suddenly rumbled overhead. Fear flashed across his eyes and Ranma knew only too well that he was now very keen to leave, lest Akane see his cursed form. His expression relaxed to mask the obvious fear.

"I need to get going anyway," he said. "I'd love to stay and make Ranma pay for hurting you, but I have somewhere to be." He turned around and walked off. "See ya, Akane."

"Uh, bye, Ryoga!" The moment he was out of sight, Ranma turned to see Akane glaring at him. "Seriously, Ranma, why must you two fight so much?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "Like I said, _he_ started it."

Akane paused for a moment, as if contemplating what he'd just said. "Yeah, alright, but you don't have to hit him so _hard_."

He raised an eyebrow at her, lowering his arms back to his sides. "Akane, hitting him that hard is the only way to get rid of him."

"But he was only trying to protect me!" She didn't look angry now, but, instead, defensive and caring. This made him scoff in annoyance.

"Yeah, 'cause he's too thick-headed to listen to a word either of us say." He adopted a mocking tone, with widened eyes and a huge smile for extra effect. "Don't worry, Akane! I'll save you from the big bad Ranma! And don't try to tell me he did nothing wrong, 'cause _my_ opinion is the only one that's right! I won't bother asking, I'll just kick his ass!" He paused as he thought of something. "Even though I know full well I _can't_!"

Akane groaned, throwing him an exasperated look. "Oh, Ranma..."

He reverted to his real tone of voice and lowered his eyelids at her. "Well, it's true."

She paused, then gave him a small smile. "I think you're just jealous."

That remark caused his heart to thump in his chest and his face to flush slightly, so he quickly covered them both with heated denial. "Jealous? Yeah right! Like I _would_ be!"

Akane giggled, turned around and walked away, a slight bounce in her step. "You are _too_!"

He walked after her at a brisk pace, determined to make her see that she was wrong and to stop the increasing thumping in his chest. "Am not!" She merely giggled again in response and kept walking.


	5. Pushing The Limits

Author's note: Yo!

Firstly, remember the pairing list from chapter one's author's note? Well, I've decided that it won't happen in that order, but that order will certainly be true in relation to how much spotlight the pairing will get... with Ranma/Akane getting the most and Tofu/Kasumi getting the least. At least, that's how I intend for it to go. Lol.

Lastly, Calpis is a Japanese uncarbonated soft drink that tastes like plain or vanilla-flavoured yogurt... and chui are those metal weapons that look like beach balls on sticks.

**Chapter Five: Pushing The Limits**

It was one week after Ranma and Akane had managed to cross both Happosai _and_ Ryoga on the same day and the two of them were currently kneeling at the dinner table, eating their lunch with the rest of the family. As per usual, seven people were crowded around one table and two of said people were wolfing down their rice so fast, anyone who didn't know them would have thought that they hadn't eaten in weeks.

Akane never even glanced at her fiancé and his father while they ate these days; she was far too used to them eating much faster than the rest of the family did. Instead, she simply ate her own rice at her own relaxed pace and thought over the past week.

She and Ranma had really struggled to keep up this new deal of theirs – her almost cracking under the pressure sometimes – but, just as she'd _thought_ would happen, neither of them had backed down, so it was still going strong. Fortunately, the rewards of the deal were starting to show, as she was having fewer bursts of anger, both from the fact that Ranma was no longer insulting her and the fact that she was now starting to realise that he wasn't always to blame for _everything_. She felt like she was communicating with him better than ever. However, she could tell from the occasional wary glance from her family in the last couple of days that they were starting to notice. That was bad, as it meant that she'd no doubt be barraged with questions about it any day now.

When they finished their meal and put down their bowls and chopsticks, Kasumi cheerfully gathered up the dishes on a tray and carried them into the kitchen.

"Delicious as always, eh, Tendo?" Genma asked happily, patting his rounded stomach.

"Naturally, Saotome," Soun replied just as cheerfully.

"I _never_ get tired of eating Kasumi's cooking."

Soun laughed. "I should _hope_ not, either." Genma laughed along with him.

"Man, that hit that spot..." Ranma said as he leaned back on his hands.

"Oh, my!" Kasumi's dainty voice called out in surprise from the kitchen.

Everyone turned in that direction. "Hmm?" Nabiki asked. "Something wrong, sis?"

Kasumi came back in from the kitchen, looking slightly sheepish. "I just remembered that I'd forgotten to buy more tea yesterday... and I think we're out of Calpis too. I'll just head out and get some."

Akane felt rather sorry for her oldest sister, always being burdened with the job of looking after six other people. She never spoke a word of complaint, either. Besides that, she was in the mood to be helpful, as all the lounging around the house lately – what with having no school anymore – had made her much more bored than she used to be. True, she'd still go for her morning jog, practice her martial arts in the dojo and have to deal with whatever craziness reared its ugly head daily, but it felt like there was a gaping hole in her routine... a space which should be filled by something. Without school to come to and go from, she had nothing to fill that hole with.

"I'll go for you, Kasumi!" she said, standing up eagerly.

Kasumi blinked at her. "Oh, my... are you sure, Akane?"

She nodded. "Uh-huh! I'll take care of the drinks and you take care of the dishes, okay?"

Kasumi beamed at her. "Well, okay. I'll just go get you some money." She turned and walked back into the kitchen.

"Let _me_ come with you, Akane!" Happosai shouted in delight and Akane turned to see him leaping towards her. She screamed in a mixture of fear and disgust.

To her immense relief, Ranma jumped in front of her and punched the old man in the face. "I don't think so, you old freak!" he yelled, watching as Happosai's tiny form fell to the ground with a thud.

Akane's heart gave a small thump of affection in her chest; she'd never say so, but she always loved it whenever Ranma protected her. It proved to her that he truly did care about her... and, although she usually hated being treated like she was a glass statue in danger of being smashed, it felt rather nice whenever _Ranma_ did it... He was her strange and very flawed knight in shining armour, in a way... She was suddenly distracted from this thought when Soun and Genma began trampling all over Happosai.

"Take _that_ and _that_ and _that_ and _that_!" they said simultaneously.

"_I'll_ go with you." She looked over at Ranma, but noticed that he was watching Happosai get flattened with an air of sadistic pleasure. "I need something to do, anyway..." He looked at her and smirked playfully. "And better me than the freak, right?"

She chuckled. "Yeah," she replied, "better you than him."

* * *

A short while later, the two of them had bought a few boxes of tea bags – which Akane was carrying in a plastic bag – and a few cartons of Calpis – which Ranma was carrying in a plastic bag – and were heading home, side-by-side on the pavement. Akane was in a good mood, as, so far, the day had gone fairly smoothly; she'd had no arguments with Ranma and nothing chaotic had happened. However, since this was a very rare occurrence, she was certain that this wouldn't last long.

"Who in the house _drinks_ Calpis, anyway?" Ranma asked. "I ain't _me_, 'cause I prefer to drink _water_."

"Well, _I_ do sometimes..." Akane replied, "and so does Nabiki." She paused for thought. "The others prefer tea."

"Yeah..." Ranma gave a light smirk. "But, Pop, Mr. Tendo and the freak also drink a lot of sake and beer."

Akane chuckled. "Yeah, they do."

Suddenly, the jingle from a bicycle rang through the air and, as the two of them stopped to listen to it, Akane knew that their alone time had abruptly ended. Ranma didn't even get a chance to say anything before a red bicycle landed on his head. God knows how the girl riding it ever managed to get it to do that.

"Nihao, Ranma!" Shampoo called out joyfully. She was holding up one hand in greeting while holding a delivery in the other.

"Urk..." Ranma replied, looking squashed and in a fair amount of pain.

Akane felt annoyed at the intrusion of such a pleasant conversation. "What do you want, Shampoo?" she asked bitterly.

Shampoo cast an annoyed glance back at her. "Shampoo no interested in talking to Violent Girl," she replied. She smiled down at Ranma. "Ranma go on date with Shampoo today, yes?"

This only served to annoy Akane more... brushing her off like she was nothing, calling her 'Violent Girl' _and_ having the nerve to ask Ranma out on a date after squashing him and ruining their pleasant walk together!

"C-Could you... get off me, Shampoo?" Ranma asked weakly.

Shampoo beamed at him. "Okay! Shampoo do that!" She dropped down from the bicycle, lifted it up with one hand and threw it aside.

Ranma stood up, groaning. "When are you going to stop with the dramatic entrances? One of these days, that bike of yours is going to kill me."

Shampoo giggled, dropping the delivery on the floor and glomping him. "Silly airen. Ranma no be killed by bike. Is _much_ too strong."

Ranma put a hand behind his head. "Aheh... yeah, well..."

Akane felt her blood boiling at the sight of Ranma being hugged and flirted with by that Amazon girl. Did he have _no_ shame? Hadn't he ever heard of _modesty_? It was bad manners to behave in such a way in the middle of the street! And what made it worse was that Ranma always seemed to be enjoying the attention, since he never made any effort to get away from her! Nothing pissed her off more than to see _her_ fiancé – who always called her 'uncute' and 'unsexy' – being nice to another girl.

"Ranma go on date with Shampoo, yes? Ranma no have school to get in way anymore."

"Uh..." Ranma took one look at Akane and jumped in fright.

Akane was far too pissed off to care. In fact, the sadistic side to her rather enjoyed seeing that he feared her; it gave her a sense of power. "Got anything you need to 'explain', Ranma?" she asked in a dangerously calm voice.

Ranma case a glance at Shampoo, seeming unsure of himself, then looked back at Akane. "Uh... well, I..."

She was seriously going to pound him to death if he didn't come up with an explanation soon. Her anger had almost boiled over to the point of no return. "_Well_?"

Shampoo looked at her curiously. "Shampoo never understand why Ranma hang out with Violent Girl." She beamed and clasped tighter onto Ranma. "Shampoo _never_ hit Ranma! Shampoo be _good_ wife!"

Akane couldn't take it anymore; she swung the plastic bag containing the boxes of tea bags and slammed it into Ranma's face. It was a bit disappointing that she hadn't been carrying anything heavier, but, hopefully, a corner on one of the boxes had just struck him in the face.

"Ow!" Ranma yelped.

Shampoo leapt away from him and scowled at her. "Aiyah!"

Ranma also scowled at her. "Akane, weren't you supposed to let me _explain_ before you hit me?"

"You were _taking_ too long, you jerk!" Akane snapped.

* * *

God, Ranma was annoyed at Akane; he'd _wanted_ to explain that she had no reason to be jealous, because he had no romantic feelings for the annoying Amazon... but he hadn't wanted to hurt Shampoo's feelings. If there was one thing that he hated more than being called a coward, it was upsetting a girl. It always made him feel like the lowest scum on Earth whenever he made a girl cry, so he'd much rather get either glomped or beaten up by one; it was much easier on the conscience.

This, of course, had put a strain on his and Akane's deal; she'd given him the chance to explain, as promised, and he'd turned it down. His mouth had frozen up when he'd most needed it to say something, all because of his damned weakness to girls.

"Violent Girl no hit Shampoo's airen!" Shampoo called out angrily. "Shampoo only sorry she no bring her chui on delivery. Otherwise, Violent Girl be tasting metal sphere!"

Akane dropped her plastic bag and took on a fighting stance. "You wanna fight me, Shampoo?" she asked. "Well then, go ahead."

Ranma groaned; Akane wasn't strong enough to take on Shampoo, even _without_ the Amazon's chui... but her anger and stubbornness had clouded her vision again.

Suddenly, someone else glomped him from behind, shocking the living daylights out of him and causing him to drop his own plastic bag. "There you are, Shampoo!" Mousse called out happily, snuggling into his back. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"Gah!" Suddenly, anger at Mousse's utter stupidity washed over him. "_Mousse_!" He spun around and punched the Amazon in the face. "Why do even bother _owning_ glasses if you never bother _wearing_ them?"

"Huh?" Mousse pulled his glasses down from his head and rested them on his eyes, then stared long and hard at Ranma.

There was a long pause, then his fist connected with Ranma's chin in an uppercut. Ranma swore that he could see lights popping in front of his eyes from the impact. "Urgh..."

Mousse jumped back, scowling at him. "Saotome! How _dare_ you get in the way of my love for Shampoo! What have you done with her?"

Ranma shook his head to try and rid himself of the popping lights. "Dude..." He pointed to Shampoo. "She's over _there_."

"Hmm?" Mousse looked where he was pointing and paused a moment, then his face lit up in a bright smile. "Shampoo!" He dashed towards her, out of Ranma's line of vision, but he soon heard the sound of a punch to the face. "Urgh!"

Ranma finally managed to blink away the popping lights, so he turned to watch the action between the two Amazons.

"What Mousse want _now_?" Shampoo asked irritably. "Can't be Great-Grandmother wondering about delivery. Shampoo not been gone long."

"No, no, it's not that at all! In fact, Cologne ordered me to stay at the Cat Cafe... but I wanted _so_ much to come _with_ you."

Shampoo glared at Mousse. "Mousse! You no supposed to leave! There customers waiting to be served at restaurant!"

Mousse continued to smile that pathetic lovesick smile at her that Ranma really wanted to scoff at. "I know, but I can't stand to be away from you, Shampoo! And after what you said, I-"

"That mean _nothing_! Shampoo thought she _praise_ Mousse, since it be very rare that Mousse serve busy restaurant and no break dishes!"

"But, Shampoo... surely the praise you gave me means that you're warming up to me?"

Shampoo laughed coldly. "Shampoo no think so. Shampoo just tired of Mousse always breaking dishes."

"Sh... Shampoo..."

Shampoo looked around Mousse and beamed at Ranma. "Ranma want take Shampoo on date now?"

Ranma blanched, feeling extremely awkward and knowing exactly where this was going, yet again. He, unfortunately, discovered that he was right as soon as he saw Mousse clench his fists.

Mousse spun around to glare daggers at him through his coke-bottle glasses. "Saotome!"

_Crap..._ Ranma thought, _here we go again._

"If you think you're taking my beloved Shampoo on a date... then you've got another thing coming!" He leapt into the air. "_Die_, Saotome!" Suddenly, a huge array of weapons on chains shot out of his sleeves.

Ranma jumped out the way. "Hey, man, cut it out!" he yelled. _Oh, why do I even bother trying to convince these guys to stop? They never listen to me._

Mousse landed on the floor and threw a set of daggers at him. He dodged out of the way and watched as they impaled themselves into a brick wall.

"Mousse!" Shampoo called out in annoyance. "Cut _out_ right _now_! Leave Ranma alone!"

This only served to piss Mousse off more, it seemed. "I said '_Die_'!"

He launched his weapons on chains again and only at the last minute did Ranma notice that Akane was in his line of fire. Panicking for her safety, he jumped over to her, grabbed her, then jumped away again before the weapons hit the floor.

He was pissed off at Mousse's recklessness now. "Watch where you're aiming those things!" He gently placed Akane back on the floor and glared daggers at Mousse. "You could have seriously hurt Akane!"

Mousse retracted his weapons. "I apologise, Akane Tendo. My quarrel is not with _you_, after all. Now, watch, as I kill your fiancé, in honour of my beloved Sham-" Shampoo suddenly came out of nowhere and emptied a bucket of cold water on him, instantly turning him into a duck. "Wack! Wack!"

"Hmph," Shampoo said, throwing the bucket to one side. "Stupid duck."

Ranma vaguely wondered which house Shampoo had borrowed the bucket from, but realised that he wasn't really that interested to know.

Shampoo happily ran towards Ranma, her arms outstretched. "Now, Ranma take Shampoo on da-" A wave of water suddenly crashed on top of her and Ranma glanced to the side to see Akane with her own empty bucket.

"I don't think so," she said, throwing the bucket to one side.

"Reow!"

That one sound alone was enough to freeze the blood in Ranma's veins. Every time he heard it, it brought back the horrifying memories of his Cat Fist training... the training which had scarred him for life. Gritting his teeth in terror, he slowly turned back towards Shampoo and saw the most terrifying creature on the planet: a cat.

The cat purred affectionately, then jumped forward and rubbed against his leg. The feel of it against his skin sent shivers of pure horror down his spine. He screamed and jumped behind Akane, grabbing her shoulders in a desperate attempt to get away from the vile creature.

"Get it away! Get it away!"

God, he always hated the sound of his voice whenever a cat was around; it made him sound like such a pathetic weakling... but he simply couldn't help it. Cats were his biggest fear. Hell, he'd prefer to make a girl cry than to be near one of those little furry monsters!

"Oh, honestly, Ranma!" Akane said haughtily. She then roughly shoved him off her, picked up Shampoo and dropped her on his head.

For the briefest of moments, he wondered how she could be so cruel. This was quickly replaced by rabid fear and he screamed again, running in circles and trying to shake off the pale pink cat. "Get it off, get it off, get it off, get it off, get it _off_!"

"Wack! Wack!" Mousse said in the background.

Eventually, he managed to get Shampoo to fall off him, so he took this golden opportunity and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

* * *

A short while after the debacle that she and Ranma had encountered on the way back from the store, Akane – who had had to carry back both plastic bags, since Ranma had run off – was sitting at the desk in her bedroom, leaning on her elbow and staring out miserably at the sky. She always hated it so much whenever one of Ranma's _other_ fiancées came along, latching onto him like he was their property. She hated it because... because she was jealous of them... not that she'd ever admit that to anyone, of course. She just wished that _she_ had the courage to openly declare her feelings to him and even be able to latch onto him the way _they_ did, in an attempt to get him to _see_ how she felt about him. She was also frustrated with the way that he never seemed to have a clear idea in mind which fiancée he liked the best and wouldn't mind taking as his wife. She truly wished that it was _her_, but, with the way that he never tried very hard to fight them off – or even _tell_ them that he wasn't interested – it was very difficult to know. He was constantly dancing around the issue, as though it would be the world's worst crime to choose just _one_ of them. Hell, if he really wanted to be with any of the others, she wouldn't like it, but she'd let him be. It was the fact that he wouldn't choose one that annoyed her the most.

_Ranma, you dummy..._ she thought for what had to be the billionth time in the last three years.

Honestly, back in the days before she'd met Ranma, there had been an empty space in her life. She'd always been a hit with boys, for whatever reason, but she'd never had any serious connection to them. However, she _had_ always been a very possessive girl. Back in elementary school, she'd gripped a boy in a headlock for trying to walk off with one of her crayons... and had punched another boy in the stomach for slipping her eraser into his pocket. When Ranma had come along, she'd, subconsciously – in the short amount of time that she'd gotten to know him – marked him as another one of her possessions. He had been, and still was, _her_ fiancé. Granted, she hadn't wanted him, but she'd always been a girl with a possessive nature. What was hers was not to be shared, whether or not she wanted it. Sometimes, she viewed this odd nature as a curse.

She sighed silently to herself, wondering the age-old question of what the hell to do about that boy. She lo... _cared_ about him so much... so much that it hurt... but she had no idea what to do. Her possessiveness _always_ got out of control whenever his other fiancées showed up and started flirting with him... Shampoo, Ukyo, Kodachi... Okay, maybe not so much Kodachi. The girl was insane and even _she_ could tell that Ranma didn't like her very much. All the same, she always saw them as threats... threats of her fiancé being taken away from her... and it only made the situation worse by seeing how beautiful Shampoo and Ukyo were. Even though one was a Chinese Amazon and the other was a girl who lived and dressed like a boy, they were both still much more beautiful than _she_ was... not to mention, more forward and more honest with their feelings.

She vaguely wondered what the boy in question was doing right now, but figured that he was probably training in the dojo. She then wondered if she should go and join him, perhaps let off some steam... but did she really feel like it? She did feel rather depressed, after all.

She lightly shook her head; God, she was so sick of all these emotions that she had to feel when it came to Ranma. Before he'd come into her life, all she ever felt around boys was anger and hatred. She'd grown so used to those emotions that they'd almost become her _default_ emotions when it came to boys... then _he'd_ come along and made her feel so much more. Affection... jealously... worry... depression... She'd never imagined that she could feel so many emotions for a _boy_...

Deciding against moping around, she stood up and walked away from her desk, intending to change into her gi and head down to the dojo. Maybe she'd break some cinderblocks... or maybe she'd attempt to hit Ranma in a sparring session. She headed over to her cupboard, opened it and allowed herself a slight smile as she gazed at her gi and thought about her favourite hobby: martial arts. If anything in the world had the power to cheer her up – whether she was pissed off enough to kill somebody or depressed enough to cry – it was martial arts.

She pulled out her gi and threw it on the bed, deciding with an air of confidence that she would put today's misfortunes behind her and focus wholly on her martial arts training. She paused and grimaced; besides, there would always be something _else_ on the horizon to piss her off and/or depress her. Why dwell on one for too long? With that thought in mind, she began to get changed.


	6. The Princess And The Fool

Author's note: Hey! Well, this chapter is going to divert slightly away from Ranma and Akane to focus on another couple, but the focus will be back on the main characters next chapter, kay? This is _this_ particular pairing's time in the spotlight. :)

On another note: I'm really confused about the school uniform situation. We all know that this anime has issues with consistency, but, for the sake of argument (and my sanity), let's say that Furinkan High lets its students wear their summer and winter uniforms whenever they want, rather than at set times of the year. Trying to make sense of the Ranma 1/2 timeline only makes a person's brain short circuit.

**Chapter Six****: The Princess And The Fool**

It was a couple of days after Ranma and Akane had run into Mousse and Shampoo on their way back from buying tea and Calpis and it was now Kasumi's twenty-second birthday. Currently, the Tendo matriarch was knelt at the head of the living room table, opening presents, while everyone else in their strange family was knelt around the sides, watching her with anticipation and intrigue.

Akane smiled fondly as she watched her eldest sister unwrap her next present, the older girl's greyish-brown eyes sparkling joyfully; it was always so nice to do something for Kasumi, since the girl always worked so hard around the house. In fact, she did _everything_; she cooked, she cleaned, she did the laundry, she waited on guests, she did the grocery shopping... all the things an old-fashioned housewife would be expected to do. It always amazed Akane just how patient and caring Kasumi was. If _she_ had been the matriarch, the stress would have gotten to her a _long_ time ago and forced her to quit. She would have probably broken a few things out of spite too.

"Oh, my," Kasumi said cheerfully, "what a lovely kitchen set. Thank you, Mr. Saotome. It's just the one I wanted."

Genma laughed. "I knew you'd like it, Kasumi!" he replied. "I picked it out specially!"

Ranma smirked at him. "You mean you couldn't figure out what to get her, so you went with the _safe_ option..." he said.

Genma forcefully put his hand on Ranma's head and shoved him to the floor. "Like _you_ did any _better_!"

"_Your_ gift was very nice _too_, Ranma," Kasumi said, smiling brightly.

"Mine was the best, though," Nabiki said smugly as she leaned back on her hands. "It always _is_."

"Now, Nabiki..."

"I do hope you're having a _lovely_ birthday, Kasumi-dear," Happosai said before sipping his tea.

"Oh, yes, Grandfather, I _am_." Suddenly, her smile faded into confusion as she stared at him. "Oh, my."

"What's the matter, Kasumi?" Soun asked, sounding concerned.

"Grandfather, you should have mentioned that you wanted some tea... I would have poured you some."

Soun grinned. "Ah, but Kasumi! You know the tradition! You're not allowed to do _anything_ on your birthday!"

Kasumi lifted a hand to her mouth. "Oh, but Father..."

Soun raised his hand. "Nope! No arguments! I'll be having none of it!" He lowered his hand and grinned wider. "You do a lot for this family, but today's _your_ special _day_! Right, Saotome?"

"Right, Tendo," Genma replied, also grinning.

Kasumi paused a moment, then lowered her hand and smiled. "Well, if you say so, Father," she said.

* * *

Tofu Ono fidgeted nervously as he approached the Tendo household, his hands shaking as they clutched tighter onto the wrapped box in his hands; today was going to be the day, definitely. All he had to do was work up the nerve to go through with it.

For years, he'd been perfectly content to admire Kasumi Tendo from afar, basking in her beauty and just enjoying the glorious feeling of being in love with her. However, a year ago, on her twenty-first birthday, he'd decided that it had been the perfect time to finally ask her out. After all, what better time of year was there to give her a fancy meal, a trip to the movies and a nice walk in the moonlit park? In _his_ eyes, she deserved nothing less than the finest treatment. Hell, he'd even been prepared to pay for everything, hold doors open for her _and_ pull out her chair before she sat down. He'd planned so hard to make her twenty-first birthday as wonderful as possible, giving her the star treatment even if she'd not wanted it to be a date.

He'd not had the nerve, it had turned out. Her birthday had gone straight past and he'd done nothing about it. All year, he'd been kicking himself for his cowardice and, to make matters worse, his mother had been getting rather annoyed with him since then. After all, for years, he'd told her that he wasn't ready for marriage... but, now that he was finally considering it, he was too much of a coward to ask the girl that he loved out on one date.

He sighed, trying desperately to calm his nerves; he knew very well that, the moment he saw Kasumi, he'd lose all sense of logic and awareness. She held such power over him and she simply had no idea. This was rather frustrating for him.

Casting his mind back many years, he thought about when he'd first met her; he'd just graduated from university at the age of twenty-two and had taken over his father's business as a chiropractor. Things had been going well for him, but, one day in mid-May, a fifteen-year-old girl – who'd recently started at Furinkan High – had brought her twelve-year-old sister – who'd injured herself from falling off a high wall – in to see him.

His first impression had been that she was exceptionally pretty and beautifully soft-spoken. While he'd been tending to her sister, however, she'd begun chatting to him – first about Akane being rather clumsy, then about her day at high school, before asking about _him_, since she'd never seen him before – and he'd soon realised how incredibly sweet a person she was.

He'd seen her several more times after that, each encounter convincing him more and more that she was exactly the woman that he'd always wanted. She was an angel, a princess, a pure and untainted being the likes of which he'd never seen before. She differed so vastly from his past two girlfriends that he'd almost been unable to believe it. His first girlfriend – who'd been a cheerleader in junior high – had been rather clingy yet bossy. She'd treated him more like a servant than a boyfriend and had always clung to him, like he'd been some personal trophy. His second girlfriend – a Goth in high school – had been rather cold yet flirtatious. Most of the time, she'd ignored him, but had been all over him whenever she'd wanted something, making him feel more like her personal play thing than her boyfriend.

Kasumi had none of those qualities, so, to _him_, she was the most perfect being on the planet. Nothing could compare to the beauty of both her appearance _and_ her personality. The more he'd seen her after that first encounter – mostly due to Akane's injuries, before _and_ after she'd started getting into fights – the more obsessed he'd gotten with her, so it hadn't been long before he'd turned into a blithering idiot around her.

He sighed; God, he wished that he could stay sane around Kasumi, just for one minute... but the mere sight of her, the mere sound of her voice... hell, the mere mention of her _name_... made his heart beat so erratically fast that his brain simply malfunctioned. According to his mother, it was a genetic thing, as his father had had it too. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and knocked on the front door.

* * *

Kasumi looked up from her cup of tea that her father had poured for her. "Oh, my," she said, placing the cup on the table, "it sounds like we have a visitor." She began to stand up.

Akane jumped to her feet and waved her hands around. "No, no!" she said, sounding panicked. "You stay there and relax. _I'll_ go get the door."

Kasumi, feeling very unused to having things done for her, settled back down. "Well, if you're sure, Akane."

Akane beamed at her. "I am." She then turned around and dashed towards the front door. There were a few moments' pause. "Oh! Hello, Dr. Tofu!"

Kasumi smiled warmly, very happy that her quirky friend had come over on her birthday. "Oh, how nice. Dr. Tofu's here. I should make him some-"

Soun jumped to his feet. "No!" he said. "That's quite alright, Kasumi." He walked off towards the kitchen. "_I'll_ take care of his tea."

Kasumi glanced down at the table, feeling rather awkward; why couldn't they let her just pour the tea, at least? She _liked_ pouring tea.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of footsteps returning, so she lifted her head towards the source. Akane soon entered, followed by a cheerful yet slightly nervous-looking Tofu.

The moment she saw him, her heart fluttered happily in her chest, so she smiled brightly at him. "Hello, Dr. Tofu."

He turned to look at her and, as soon as they locked gazes, that familiar glaze fell over his eyes and he smiled goofily at her.

"H-Hey, Kasumi!" he replied rather loudly, squeezing something that she couldn't quite see in a death grip. "F-Fancy meeting _you_ here!"

She giggled, amused by his strange antics. He never ceased to brighten up her day just that little bit more whenever she saw him. "Well, of course. Don't you remember? I live here."

He laughed a crazed laugh. "Oh yeah! Yeah! Of course you do!"

"Why not sit down and have some tea? Father's just preparing you some."

"Oh! Uh, sure! Sure!" He sat down on the table with a loud 'thunk', knocking her cup over and spilling her tea. He then picked up the empty cup and placed it on his head. "Mmm! Great tea, Kasumi!"

She couldn't help but find this amusing; he was so cute when he was being goofy and weird. "I'm glad you like it, Dr. Tofu, but I'll need to clean up this-"

"I got it!" Ranma yelled, jumping to his feet and dashing towards the kitchen.

Soun passed him on the way in, holding a steaming cup of fresh tea. "Tea, Dr. Tofu?" he asked pleasantly, holding out the cup.

"Yes! Thank you!" Tofu replied, taking the cup and tossing the contents over his shoulder. "Delicious!"

Kasumi giggled again. She then paused before continuing. "Dr. Tofu?" she asked. "What's that box you have?"

"Huh?" He glanced down at the box, which seemed to have been almost completely crushed in his death grip. He paused for a few moments, then shook his head and thrust it out towards her. "This is for you! Merry Christ- no... Happy White- no..." He took a deep breath. "Happy birthday, Kasumi!"

Silence permeated the room... and Kasumi's joyful smile had been replaced by a look of sheer surprise as her heart skipped a few beats in her chest. "Oh, my." She gracefully took the present, smiling warmly. "Thank you, Dr. Tofu."

"Got the paper towels!" Ranma called out as he came back into the room, knelt down and started wiping away the spilled tea.

Kasumi paid the boy no mind as she opened her present. Her heart skipped a few more beats as she saw that it was a beautiful golden heart-shaped pendant with word 'Kasumi' written in English lettering in diamonds across it. She found herself blushing as she looked up and beamed at him. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

Tofu laughed nervously, also blushing. "Y-You're welcome! Yeah!" He paused a moment, staring into space, before he shook his head violently, twisted his body round on the table and grabbed her hands. She jolted back slightly in surprise. "Kasumi! Will you... will you... go... go... go...?"

She blinked curiously at him. "What is it, Dr. Tofu?"

His face suddenly exploded in heat, but he kept his glazed eyes firmly fixed on hers. "Would you... would you...?" He took a deep breath, just as before. "Would you go out with me?"

There was another deafening silence in the room, save for the small squeak that came from Akane. Now, Kasumi's heart was thudding violently against her ribcage. Go out with him? On a date? Wow, she'd certainly not been expecting _that_... although... the idea greatly appealed to her. He _was_ her type of guy, after all; he was tall, older than her, sweet, caring... and no one could get much weirder. She smiled, an extra warmth filling her chest and radiating out her eyes; yes, he was _exactly_ her type.

"Of course." She beamed at him. "I'd love to go out with you."

"Yes!" Akane called out, jumping up in the air.

Ranma looked up from his cleaning job. "Way to go, Doc!" he said.

"Huh?" Tofu asked, seeming to come to his senses somewhat.

Soun appeared over Kasumi's shoulder, crying his eyes out. "My little girl!" he wailed before throwing his arm over his eyes. "I'm so happy!"

Genma appeared over Tofu's shoulder, flashing a peace sign. "Alright, _Kasumi_!" he said, grinning.

"Aww, how cute!" Happosai called out from somewhere nearby. "Young love!" He laughed.

"Yeah," Nabiki added, sounding smug, "simply adorable."

Tofu blinked once, twice, glanced around him, then looked horrified. He jumped back, off the table and onto his feet, and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Aheh... um... I, uh..."

Akane suddenly appeared beside him. "Congratulations, Dr. Tofu!" she said cheerfully. "I knew you could do it!"

Ranma stood up, holding the soaking wet paper towels. "Heh," he said with a smug tone, "bet you're regrettin' asking her in _front_ of everyone, eh, Doc?"

Akane scowled lightly at him. "Oh, be nice, Ranma! Dr. Tofu's been waiting a long time to ask Kasumi out, haven't you, Doctor?"

Tofu suddenly looked panicky, waving his hands around. "Ah! Uh..." he replied.

"Oh, my..." Kasumi said, completely blown away by all that had just happened.

* * *

Tofu couldn't believe what was currently happening; he was dressed in a smart suit and tie, sitting in a restaurant opposite Kasumi Tendo... who was looking beautiful in a fancy dress with her new locket around her neck. He was actually on a date with her! He pinched his cheek for the fifth time, just to be sure that he wasn't dreaming, then recoiled in pain.

Kasumi looked mildly concerned. "Oh, my, Dr. Tofu..." she said, "you really should stop pinching yourself."

He laughed loudly, dropping his hand back to the table and grabbing what he assumed was his fork. "O-Okay, Kasumi! Sure!" he replied. He began stabbing at his steak with the fork, barely registering that it was merely bouncing off.

She smiled at him. "This really is a lovely restaurant. Thank you for inviting me here."

"Y-You're welcome!" He grabbed his wine glass with his other hand and drank from it, only vaguely wondering why he wasn't tasting anything. "I-It _is_ a date, after all, right?" He threw the glass into the air, where he assumed the table was. There was a strange crash and some screaming, but he ignored it.

Kasumi didn't seem to have noticed anything peculiar, merely continuing to smile at him. "Yes, it is." She raised her fork and stared curiously at the piece of steak on it. "I still think this steak was rather expensive. Are you sure you can afford it?"

He laughed loudly again. "Of course! I'll buy you anything you want, Kasumi! You name it, you can have it! It's _your_ special _day_, after all!"

She lowered her fork and smiled, yet there remained a hint of concern in her expression. "Oh, Dr. Tofu... you don't have to spend so much money on me." Her smile brightened. "I do very much appreciate the locket, but I don't want you to feel you need to pamper me. I'm more a _sentimental_ girl, myself, and less of a _material_ girl."

"Y-Yeah?" He poked himself in the face with what he assumed was his fork, completely missing his mouth. "Well, okay! Anything you want, Kasumi!"

Kasumi chuckled. "Well, how about we split the cost of the meal, since it's so expensive? We'll decide about the movies when we get there. Just try not to overdo it with the spending."

"Right, got it! No overdoing it!" He shoved what he suddenly realised was his spoon into his mouth and started chewing on it. God, he always got so nervous around Kasumi; it made him do such stupid things. Again, he could blame his father's genes for that.

"Oh, Dr. Tofu, you're so adorable sometimes."

His head nearly exploded at that comment. His heart hammered harder against his ribcage and he suddenly felt his face turn red. He chewed the spoon harder. "A-Adorable? Really?" He reached forward, his fingers itching for something to calm his nerves, and started ripping apart the side of the tablecloth.

Kasumi beamed at him. "Of course. I don't think I'd rather be on date with anyone else."

Suddenly in absolute heaven, he chuckled insanely to himself, continuing to tear at the tablecloth. "Kasumi..." Any subconscious thought that had been left in him had wandered off now.

* * *

After the new couple had left the restaurant and been to see a romantic comedy at the movies, they had gone to the park together. They were currently walking side-by-side under the moonlit sky, enjoying the peaceful fact that they were two of only a small number of people in the area.

Kasumi was very happy; she hadn't been on a date in years and it was just made all the more special by the fact that it was Dr. Tofu that she was dating. The night had gone perfectly and had been so cute and romantic.

"So, Dr. Tofu," she said politely, "will we be going on _another_ date soon?"

He jumped and smiled goofily at her. "Ah! Uh..."

She smiled brightly. "I really enjoyed this date. It was so much fun! Please tell me we'll be having another."

"Yes! Yes! Of course! I'd _love_ another date!" He tripped over and landed on his face. "Urgh!"

She looked down at him in concern. "Oh, my... are you alright, Dr. Tofu?"

He jumped back to his feet and laughed. "Yeah! Yeah! I'm fine! And please, just call me 'Doctor'! I mean 'Tofu'! Feel free to call me 'Tofu'! It's my name, after all!" He laughed again and started yanking on his tie. He then lifted it up to his mouth and started chewing on it.

She beamed, happy that he felt close enough to her to allow her to drop the word 'Doctor'. "Alright then... Tofu."

He looked like he was about to faint for a moment, but, somehow, managed to regain his balance. He still looked out of it, though. "Awesome..."

* * *

It was finally the end of their date and, like a true gentleman, Tofu had walked Kasumi to her front door. He was still blabbering nonsense, but that was one of the things that she adored about him. He was simply the cutest guy that she'd ever met, in his own quirky way. Plus, he'd made her feel so special when he'd asked her out on a date, like she'd been put on a golden pedestal.

She stood on the porch and turned to smile at him. "Well, this is it," she said. "Again, thank you for the wonderful date. I hope we can do it _again_ fairly soon."

"Uh huh..." he replied dazedly, "yeah..."

She turned back towards the door and unlocked it, then turned back to Tofu. "Goodbye, Tofu!" She leaned across and kissed him on the cheek as a way of truly expressing her gratitude and affection. "See you again soon!"

His face turned the brightest shade of red imaginable and he seemed to be completely stuck for words as he raised a hand to touch his cheek. His eyes stared blankly ahead, even more glazed over than before... and, this time, he actually _did_ faint.

Her hand touched her mouth in worry. "Oh, my..."

"Kasumi?" Akane called out from inside. "Kasumi, is that you?"

There was a thundering of footsteps. "Kasumi!" Soun called out, sounding frantic. "My little Kasumi!" He flung open the door and lunged forward, grabbing her shoulders from behind. "Oh, Kasumi! Are you alright? I was getting worried! It's so late, after all, and you've _never_ been out this late!"

"There was no need to worry, Father," she assured him, still staring at Tofu's motionless body, which was lying on the dark floor, "I had Tofu with me, after all."

"Yeah," Akane said excitedly, "I was waiting to ask you about that. I stayed up, waiting for you to get home, 'cause I've just gotta know! So, how was-?" She paused. "Wait... 'Tofu'?"

Kasumi turned to smile at her youngest sister. "Oh, yes, he asked me to call him 'Tofu', instead of '_Dr._ Tofu'."

Akane beamed. "Wow, that's great!" She threw her arms around her. "Way to go, sis!"

Kasumi chuckled. "Thank you, Akane... and the date went wonderfully, by the way. It was absolutely perfect."

"That's great news!"

"Yes..." She looked back down at Tofu. "But I think he'll have to stay the night. I really don't want to _leave_ him down there..."

"Huh?" Soun and Akane asked at the same time. A moment passed before both screamed.

"_Dr. Tofu_?" Akane yelled.

"Wh-What's he doing on the _floor_?" Soun asked, sounding frantic again.

"The poor dear fainted. Could we get him inside?"

"Sure!" Soun and Akane said at the same time again.

Both walked past her, knelt down and, with some difficulty, picked him up. Then, once they'd gotten him balanced, they walked inside with him, no doubt taking him to the guest room, where Genma and Ranma slept.

Kasumi followed behind, kicking off her shoes and hanging up her coat before closing and locking the door. When she suddenly recalled again how lovely the date had been, despite Tofu's fainting spell, her good mood returned. She smiled, humming a pleasant melody to herself as she headed up the stairs to her bedroom.


	7. Anticipation

Author's note: Yo! Well, like I promised, we're back to Ranma/Akane again. Enjoy.

Also, just to help any readers who'd otherwise get confused...

"Yeah now!" is Hawaiian slang for "Good job!"

"You da kine!" is Hawaiian slang for "You're the best!"

"A hui hou!" is Hawaiian slang for "Until we meet again!"

**Chapter Seven****: Anticipation**

It was a couple of days after Dr. Tofu had asked Kasumi out on their very first date – the following days having been taken up by Akane giddily squeezing details out of Kasumi – and it was now, finally, the day that the youngest Tendo daughter had been waiting so patiently for.

Akane slipped on her shoes, eager to head back to Furinkan High and finally see if she had passed her university entrance exam. This was the day when she'd discover where her life beyond high school was going to lead her. She felt sick with worry, yet her heart was beating hard in excitement at the same time.

"Kay!" she called out. "I'm leaving now!" She slid the door open.

"Ah, just a moment, Akane!" Soun called out.

"Hey!" Ranma called out in protest.

Akane glanced behind her before her face twisted into a shocked and confused mess; her father was frantically shoving her fiancé towards her and said fiancé was looking rather annoyed.

"Dad," she said, "what-?"

Soun stopped shoving Ranma and beamed at her. "Well," he replied, "Saotome and I talked it over! And we decided that, since the two of you are getting along _so_ well lately... you should go _together_!"

Genma poked his head around the corner of the living room door. "That's right!" he added. "You get to spend some quality time alone together!" He then flashed a peace sign. "We'll have them married in no time, Tendo!"

Soun laughed. "We will indeed!"

Ranma turned to the two of them. "Now, wait just a minute!" he yelled, slightly red-faced.

Nabiki sauntered in from the living room and smirked. "You two _have_ been getting along _awfully_ well lately." She paused to smirk wider. "I'm beginning to think there's something you're not telling us... like maybe how you're a bit closer than fiancés now?"

Akane heart froze in fear and horror, both from her sister's suggestion _and_ the sudden sparkle in the eyes of Soun and Genma.

She blushed heavily. "D-Don't be ridiculous!" she yelled.

Soun suddenly started crying, then linked hands with Genma and danced around the room. "We're finally going to unite the schools, eh, Saotome?" he asked, tears streaming down his face.

Genma laughed. "That we are, Tendo!" he replied. "Life is grand!"

Akane's anger slowly started to boil as she watched them; God, she and Ranma could never get any peace. Those two morons were always trying to force them together, no matter what the cost was. The fact that they were suppressing the freedom and independence that had built up inside her over the years always drove her insane. Perhaps if she and Ranma had been left to their own devices, they'd have made progress a _long_ time ago. She paused a moment in her anger; well, perhaps not. Their personalities did naturally bounce off one another, after all.

Huffing, she turned on her heel and stormed out the front door. "Well, if you're coming, Ranma, then hurry up!" she snapped. "If not, then _stay here_!"

* * *

Ranma stood in the middle of the schoolyard at Furinkan High School with his friends, Hiroshi and Daisuke, and felt a strange sense of nostalgia. God, he hadn't been gone long and, already, he was remembering the good old days.

"The place is packed out today, huh?" Hiroshi pointed out as he looked over the mass of students.

"Yeah," Daisuke replied. "As soon as I see an opening, I'm heading over to the boards to see if my number's there. Can't see a thing with all the people crowding round."

Hiroshi looked back at Ranma. "So, are you waiting for Akane, Ranma? 'Cause we know _you're_ not checking your results."

"Yeah. She went to get her number."

"Aloha, me keikis!" a Hawaiian accent called out as Principal Kuno danced past them, playing his ukulele. "You must be _missin'_ de big kahuna. Well, too bad!" He laughed. "You all be too old to be me students now!" He paused. "Although, me gonna miss playing de games and having de big fun, ya!"

Ranma gave him a half-lidded stare, both annoyed _and_ wondering if being a deluded lunatic ran in the family. "Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever," he replied. In actual truth, he was glad to be _rid_ of this clown and his 'games'.

A glint appeared in Principal Kuno's eye under his sunglasses. "Hmm?" He pulled a hair clipper from his pocket, his other hand still holding the ukulele. "Me see dat Ranma Saotome still be misbehavin'. Perhaps me need to get snippy-snippy with dat pigtail."

"Not on your life."

Principal Kuno was about to reply when one of the male students dashed past him at breakneck speed, closely followed by a pint-sized Miss Hinako holding a five-yen coin between her fingers.

"Come back here, you delinquent!" she cried in her childlike voice. Ranma looked away in a mixture of exasperation and pity for the poor guy, so he didn't see what he knew what happening. "Happo Five-Yen Satsu!" A scream erupted and the sound of a body drained of its battle aura fell to the floor. A moment later, the fully-grown Miss Hinako walked back the way she came, flicking her hair and swaying her hips as she passed by them. "That's another miscreant taken care of."

Principal Kuno stared for a moment. "Uh... yeah now! You da kine, Miss Hinako!" Said teacher only lifted her hand in response. The principle then put his hair clipper away and resumed playing his ukulele. "You behave now, keikis! Especially _you_, Ranma Saotome." He danced away again. "De big kahuna got much to do! A hui hou!" He then disappeared amongst the crowd.

"Hey, Ranma!" Akane said cheerfully as she walked over to them. "I picked up my number. Oh, hi, Hiroshi! Hi, Daisuke!"

"Hey, Akane," Hiroshi replied.

"Do you think there are any schools in the world crazier than ours?" Daisuke said.

"Who knows." Hiroshi glanced away and back, suddenly grinning. "Oh, hey, look! A gap in the crowd! Let's go check if our numbers are on any of the boards!"

"Okay. Catch you guys later." The two then turned around and walked off.

"Yeah, see ya!" Ranma replied. He looked at Akane with a small smile. "You ready for this, Akane?"

His fiancée paused a few moments to breathe deeply before a determined look shone in her eyes. "I'm ready," she said. "Let's go."

Ranma chuckled. "Alright. Let's hope you haven't failed." There was a sudden growl. He didn't have time to think before he felt a fist to the back of his head. "Ow..."

"I'm _not_ going to _fail_, you jerk!"

He rubbed his sore head and glared at her. Alright, he knew that, at the present moment, she was probably scared spitless and trying her hardest to convince herself that she'd passed. Perhaps teasing her was insensitive of him, but, hey, it was fun! And he was allowed his fun, right? Japan _was_ a free country, after all...

"Come on." He walked towards the line of boards that were covered in various students' numbers. "Let's go check your stupid number, then go home."

"Why, you! Nobody _forced_ you to come, you know!"

"Well, technically, they did."

"Ranma! You-"

Akane's rant was suddenly cut short when she screamed. Ranma spun around in panic, ready to pummel whomever had made his fiancée scream when he spotted Tatewaki, with his arms tightly wrapped around said fiancée. Okay, where the hell had _he_ come from?

"Ah, my beloved Akane Tendo!" he declared, rubbing his cheek up and down hers while she visibly shuddered in disgust. "What joy mine heart feels upon seeing you again! It has been far too long, my love!"

Akane's face then sported the 'I'm going to kill you' expression that Ranma was very much familiar with. He'd pity the poor fool for what was about to happen, but Tatewaki was a brainless idiot with delusions of grandeur. No amount of pain would ever make him see sense and that was incredibly annoying.

"Get your hands _off_ me, Kuno!" Akane delivered a powerful uppercut that sent Tatewaki flying straight up in a vertical line towards the clouds.

Ranma shielded his eyes as he watched him fly. "Huh..." he said, "is your aim a little off today, Akane? You usually punch in a diagonal line."

"Shut _up_!" She stormed past him. "I'm gonna go see if my number's on one of the boards."

Ranma shrugged. "Meh. I'll come with." He followed her as she pushed her way through the slowly-thinning crowds to find her number. He peered at the nearest board. "Okay, so, what's your number?"

"Three-seven-four-one." She sounded calmer now, though nervous.

He scanned the board carefully, ignoring the sound of Tatewaki hitting the gravel somewhere behind them. "Hmm. Not _this_ one. Try the next one along."

"Kay."

Akane moved over to the next board. He was about to follow her when something wrapped around his waist and hauled him backwards.

"Gack!"

A crazed laugh erupted behind him. "Ranma-darling!" a voice that could only, to Ranma's immense chagrin, be Kodachi said from behind him. That meant that the thing around his waist was her rhythmic gymnastics ribbon. "What a pleasant surprise it is to find _you_ here!"

Ranma groaned; why the hell were the Kuno siblings here? Obviously, neither of them were after exam results, because Tatewaki was already a year into university and Kodachi had attended St. Hebereke's School For Girls... They must have been stalking them again.

"Don't you have an exam result to go look at?"

Another crazed laugh erupted from her throat. "I need not look, my darling, for I most certainly have passed without fail! However, I had a strong feeling that you would be here, so I came to see you."

"Great..."

"Ranma!" Akane called out. "It's not there! Where did you-?" She stopped short as she saw them and scowled. "Kodachi!"

"Greetings, Akane Tendo," Kodachi replied coolly. "Did you perhaps run into my dear brother yet? He came to visit you, just as _I_ came to visit my darling Ranma."

"Unfortunately, yes. Now, let Ranma go! We're busy."

Yet another crazed laugh erupted. "Busy? Looking for your number on the boards, are we? Tsk. Do not waste your time, for there will be nothing there to find!"

Akane's scowled deepened heavily and even Ranma felt a stab of annoyance. "_What_?"

"Hey, come on, Kodachi!" Ranma scolded, unwrapping himself and turning around to face her. "Don't go saying that!"

"Oh, but Ranma-darling..." Kodachi replied in a much softer tone, "I am only telling her the truth."

He was about to say something else when Akane suddenly screamed again. He whirled around in panic again, but felt the same aggravation at the sight of Tatewaki clasped onto his fiancée.

"My love!" he cried. "If I were a fool, I would believe your punches to mean rejection! It be fate, then, that I am not!"

Akane angrily elbowed him. He crumpled to the ground. "How do you figure _that_?" she yelled.

"Urgh... Your punches are your way of expressing your unconditional love for me, Akane Tendo... If I were truly a fool, I would not realise as such..."

"Pch," Ranma said, unimpressed. "Yeah, right. You wish, Kuno."

Tatewaki growled, then leapt to his feet – still flinching slightly – and pulled his wooden sword from his robes. He held it in front of him. "Ranma Saotome, you cretin. Not only do you keep the fair Akane Tendo trapped within the constraints of your engagement to her, but you mock the love that we so share. You shall taste the sword of Tatewaki Kuno, Blue Thunder of Nerima, for such insolence. En garde!"

He began swinging his sword wildly at Ranma, who dodged out of the way of every blow, feeling rather bored with the lack of a challenge. _He_ was always striving to better himself, always improving... whereas Tatewaki always remained at the exact same skill level. This didn't include his training on Watermelon Island, of course, since that had all been for show anyway.

"Brother-dear!" Kodachi cried out, sounding appalled. "You leave my Ranma-darling alone!"

Suddenly, a pink ribbon flew past Ranma's head and collided with the wooden sword. Tatewaki looked affronted. "How dare you."

"How dare _I_? How dare _you_ attack the future husband of The Black Rose!"

"Twisted sister of mine, you will stand aside!"

"I shall not! If you hurt one hair on my Ranma-darling's head, then I shall maim your beloved Akane Tendo!"

"_Excuse me_?" Akane cried out in disbelief.

"_Now_ you have gone too far, my twisted sister!" Tatewaki cried in outrage. "En garde!"

"En garde _yourself_, brother-dear!" Kodachi replied.

The two siblings charged at one another and began to exchange blows with their sword and ribbon, both nimbly dodging each other's attacks before countering with their own.

Ranma crept over to Akane's side in the chaos. He glanced at her and noticed that she looked rather annoyed. "Akane?" he asked.

"This is ridiculous!" she replied. "All I want is to see if I passed my goddamn entrance exam!"

"Well, come on, let's go check while they're busy fighting."

"Hmph. Fine."

Once again, he followed her to a board, but, at that moment, Kodachi's ribbon wrapped around Akane's waist and yanked her backwards. She yelped in surprise and crazy laughter soon followed. "And where do you think _you_ are going, Akane Tendo?" Kodachi asked.

"Oh, for crying out loud!"

"Release my love, you vile witch!" Tatewaki called out, swinging his sword wildly at his younger sister.

Kodachi dodged the blows by jumping backwards a few times. "Vile witch, am I?" she asked. "Well then, let us see how you like _this_!" She swung the ribbon and threw Akane straight at him. With a yelp, the two crashed into each other and fell to the floor.

"Akane!" Ranma called out, fearing for her safety. God, she always got herself into so much trouble... and needed protecting so much. It really got to him whenever he couldn't protect her from something. It was then that he felt a few raindrops on his face and he froze in horror. "Aw, crap..."

* * *

Akane forced herself away from Tatewaki and onto her feet, then scooted away a bit to prevent him from glomping her again; she _really_ hated it whenever he did that. It was a major invasion of her privacy.

She suddenly felt a few drops of rain on her face. "Huh?" she asked, looking up at the sky. The clouds were quite dark now, which was just typical, since she'd not thought to bring an umbrella. "Great..." She was bound to get soaked.

This was the moment that the clouds above decided to open up and shower down their water upon Nerima. She was just about to grumble in annoyance when someone interrupted her.

"Aw, great!" an unmistakable female Ranma called out. "You couldn't pick a worse time to rain, could ya?"

There was an abrupt pause in the fighting. "Pigtailed girl!" Tatewaki cried out, throwing down his sword and rushing over to Ranma, glomping her in five seconds flat. "My love!" Ranma screamed in protest. "Oh, I must have pleased the gods in _one_ form or another, for I have been blessed with _both_ my loves on this glorious day!" Ranma growled angrily at him. "Although I be soaked to the bone, 'tis a sure sign that the gods themselves are weeping in joy for our union! Oh, pigtailed girl, I-"

Ranma punched Tatewaki hard and sent him flying over the horizon. "The gods can weep for your union with the sky instead!" she yelled.

Kodachi brandished her ribbon like a whip. "You wicked _wicked_ girl!" she growled. "What have you done with my darling Ranma?"

Ranma groaned and, quite frankly, Akane felt like doing the same. "I ain't done _nothing_ with your 'darling Ranma'..."

Akane felt like giving Ranma a hand this time, simply because of two reasons. One, she wanted to get out of the rain. Two, she _really_ wanted to see if she'd made it into university.

"Um..." she said, quickly thinking up an excuse, "he... had to leave... Said he had somewhere to be." She paused. "Somewhere not here."

Kodachi stared at her for a moment, then glanced longingly into the distance. "Oh, Ranma-darling!" she cried. "What possessed you to leave, I do wonder? Perhaps you were frightened away by the combination of _two_ vile witches out to steal you from your one true love. Fear not, my darling! I shall find you and we shall be alone together at last!" Twirling her ribbon, she bounced away, laughing madly.

A moment passed before Akane put her hand to her head. "Honestly... _Why_ do we always have to deal with such nut-jobs?"

Ranma shrugged. "You got _me_, Akane," she replied. "Come on. Let's go find your number, so we can get home, outta this rain."

Akane paused, staring at Ranma. Had she just... insinuated that her number would actually _be_ there this time? "Ranma..."

There were a few moments where the two of them just stood there in the rain, staring one another in the eyes. Akane lived for these moments, where she and her fiancé could share an intimate bond of no spoken words.

Suddenly, Ranma, looking uncomfortable, coughed. "Uh, yeah, well... come on then."

Akane smiled and nodded, glad that Ranma was no longer teasing her about the prospect of failing. "Kay."

The two of them walked side-by-side over to the next board and Akane noticed with a faint trace of horror that the rain was rapidly soaking the paper. Her eyes raced over the numbers, trying to find her own. Wait... she'd forgotten it already! She quickly rummaged around in the pockets of her dress and pulled out the slip of paper, staring at the number on it.

"What was the number again?"

"Three-seven-four-one. Quick, find it before the paper shrivels!"

"Kay!"

Akane looked over the board once, then, with heightened panic, realised that she couldn't find it. She shrieked. "_Where the hell is it_?"

"I dunno..."

She looked over the numbers a second time, but still couldn't find it. Tears welled up in her eyes; no... she didn't get into university... She was officially a ronin... Oh, the shame... What was she going to do now?

"Wait!" Ranma pointed. "I see it! Over there!"

Hope filled Akane's chest as she followed the path of the red-head's finger, then she saw it. "Oh, my God! There it is! It's there! It's there!" She laughed in pure unbridled joy and began dancing around on the spot, crying for a whole different reason now. "I made it. I made it into university!"

Ranma laughed along with her. "So you did. Congratulations, Akane!"

Akane couldn't contain her happiness any longer, so she hugged Ranma. "Oh, Ranma, I'm so happy!" She broke away, beaming so brightly that she could have sworn that the sun was shining out of her face. Ranma, she noticed with some satisfaction, was blushing slightly. "I'm a university student!"

Ranma laughed rather uneasily. "Eh, yeah, heh. So, uh, what was your course of choice again?"

"Sports Science. Ooh, I can't wait!"

"You did well there, Akane. Come on, let's go home now."

"Alright!"

Akane followed Ranma out the front gates of Furinkan High for the very last time as the two of them headed down the road. Okay, so Tatewaki and Kodachi had delayed her significantly, but the important thing was that she'd passed! Which meant that she wasn't a ronin! Which meant that she wasn't ever going back to Furinkan High! Which meant that she was going to be doing a Sports Science course at university! Which meant that her life could finally move forward!

"Race ya."

Akane looked up at Ranma, who was grinning at her while walking along the fence. She grinned back, in far too good a mood to refuse. "You're on." The two of them stopped walking.

Ranma prepared herself. "Ready?"

Akane did the same. "Set?"

"Go!"

They raced off down the street, the pair of them laughing the whole way back to the Tendo household. Akane had never felt so alive.


	8. Minor Annoyances

Author's note: Hello! Here's another chapter for you, full of more Ranma 1/2 craziness! You gotta love the craziness on that show. Lol.

Anyway... why must certain characters in the world of Ranma 1/2 be so hard to write? Heh. It's crazy. This is the second time I've had to keep rewriting speech until it matched the episodes. The first time was Principal Kuno.

**Chapter Eight: Minor Annoyances**

It was a couple of days after Akane had discovered that she had made it into university and, ever since the fateful day, she'd been in amazingly good spirits. Even when Ranma had been glomped several times by his other three fiancées, she'd remained fairly cheerful, only twitching slightly around the eyes and mouth.

Currently, the strange family of seven were all sitting around the table, having finished lunch a while ago, and everyone was occupying themselves with different habits. Soun and Genma were wrestling over the television remote, Kasumi and Happosai were quietly drinking tea, Nabiki was lounging back and munching on a rice cracker and Akane was reading a magazine. Ranma, who was also lounging back, was watching them all out of pure boredom.

He turned to Akane, focusing quietly on her as she turned another page; she looked so peaceful and happy again today... and that was quite nice. He figured that she must really be looking forward to university in a few days.

He was certainly happy for her – as well as happy for _himself_, because he hadn't suffered any beatings lately – but it was a shame, really. Her university of choice was still in Tokyo, fortunately, but it was far enough away for her to need to catch a bus every day. He'd be willing to bet that, sometimes, she'd be out the door before he even woke up and, sometimes, she wouldn't be back until evening at the latest.

Akane looked up from her magazine and locked gazes with him. "Something wrong, Ranma?" she asked.

He jumped slightly, but regained his composure. "Uh, no..." he replied. He paused as he thought of something to say. "So, uh... looking forward to university?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yep! Should be fun."

Soun suddenly started crying, which made Ranma jump again. "Oh, I can't stand it!" he wailed. "First my _middle_ daughter grows up and now my _youngest_ daughter is growing up too! It's all happening so fast!"

"Oh, Father..." Kasumi said gently.

"Oh, do grow a backbone, Daddy," Nabiki said before biting into her rice cracker.

"There, there, Tendo," Genma said, "it's not so bad! You should be proud that they're growing up and aiming for a degree!"

Soun continued crying. "I _am_, Saotome..." he replied, "I _am_..."

Akane sighed. "It's not like I'm _leaving_ you, Dad..." she said.

"Let's _hope_ not!" Happosai said cheerfully. "We wouldn't want to lose our sweet little Akane, now, would we?" He barked a cackling laugh, then went back to sipping his tea.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "So, Akane..." he asked, "is there anything you need before you 'move up in the world'?"

She gave him a half-lidded stare. "Ha ha..." she replied sarcastically. Suddenly, her face lit up. "Actually!" She jumped to her feet. "I should go shopping for some new stationary! And maybe a few new outfits while I'm at it! New start, new stuff, right?"

Soun burst into a fresh flow of tears, crouching into a bowing position on the floor. "Akaneeeee!" he wailed.

"Yeah, yeah," Ranma replied unenthusiastically, "if you say so."

"If Akane's going shopping, then you're going with her, boy!" Genma said.

"_What_?" He turned to his father, angry. "Oh, come on!"

"Hmph," Akane huffed, "if he doesn't wanna come, he doesn't have to." She walked towards the front door. "Regardless, I'm going shopping."

"Better hurry up, Ranma," Nabiki said whilst reading the magazine that Akane had left behind. "Your fiancée's getting away."

"But-" Ranma replied, looking around him. Every face was turned towards him, except for Soun's, which was still planted on the carpet. Giving up, he sighed, then stood up and ran towards the front door. "Wait up, Akane!"

* * *

Akane cheerfully hummed the chorus to 'Little Date' as she strolled along the shopping plaza with Ranma. Not only was she happy to be buying new things for university, she was also happy that her fiancé had decided to come with her. True, Ranma didn't particularly like shopping, and tended to complain a lot, but his company was nice.

"Hey!" a female voice called out. "Akane!"

"Hmm?" she asked, stopping in her tracks and turning around. "That sounded like..." Ranma copied her as she noticed her two closest friends rushing over to her. She smiled. "Sayuri! And Yuka! Hey!"

Sayuri and Yuka stopped in front of her. "Fancy running into _you_!" Yuka said.

"I've got something for you," Sayuri said, digging something from her bag and holding it out. "Here. It's the photos from graduation day!"

Akane took them and glanced over them. "Hey, thanks!" she replied.

"We've been a bit busy lately," Yuka explained, flipping her long brown hair over her shoulder, "so we haven't been able to come over to give them to you."

Sayuri laughed, tugging bashfully on her dark brown ponytail. "Plus, I kept forgetting I had them!" she added.

Akane laughed along with her. "What are you like?" she asked.

"I know, right?" Yuka agreed.

"Heh..." Sayuri said. "Anyway, we need to get going. Lots of stuff to do. See ya around Akane!"

"Yeah," Yuka agreed, "bye, Akane! Bye, Ranma!" The two of them hurried off.

"Bye!" Akane called out.

Turning back to the photographs, she looked them over properly. Smiling at the picture of her and Ranma standing side-by-side, holding their diplomas, she had to admit that Sayuri was actually pretty good with a camera.

"Hey, lemme see those," Ranma said, peering over her shoulder.

"Sure."

She leafed through them for him, showing him the picture of them, the picture of him and Ukyo – with Ukyo clinging to his arm – and the picture of all three of them. Seeing Ukyo _again_ clinging to Ranma's arm in their group picture, whilst grinning cheekily at _her_, made Akane's eye twitch slightly, but she let it go; she was in too good a mood today and refused to let it be spoiled by something so petty.

"Anyway..." She put the photographs in the bag on her shoulder. "Enough of that. It's time to do some shopping!"

Ranma pulled his head back and sighed. "Yeah, yeah... sure."

She grinned at him. "Oh, don't complain."

He rolled his eyes. "Right... so, where'd you wanna go first?"

She stopped to think about it. "Hmm... how about we-?"

"_Chaaaarge_!" a male voice called out.

"Hmm?" Akane looked over to the side and saw a trashcan hopping towards them, its lid bouncing up and down on top of it. "Oh, look who it is, Ranma."

Ranma groaned. "Oh, great..." he replied.

The trash can stopped in front of them and a feminine head popped out of it, the lid resting on top like a hat.

"Hello, Ranma. Akane," Tsubasa Kurenai said, smirking. "Been a while, hasn't it?"

"Hey, Tsubasa," Akane replied. "So, what brings _you_ here?"

Tsubasa clasped his hands together, staring dreamily into the distance. "I was just paying yet another visit to my dear, dear Ukyo... to show her the extent of my love for her..." He began to cry and shake his head. "Oh, why, _why_ must she be so cruel as to play golf with me?"

There was a moment of silence as Akane pondered this statement. She assumed that Ranma didn't understand it either, because he was also keeping quiet.

Suddenly, it hit her. "Oh! You mean she used _you_ as the golf ball?"

Tsubasa wailed. "Exactly! And that accursed spatula of hers was the club!" He suddenly sobered up, eyes sparkling again. "But I shall not give up hope! My dear, dear Ukyo will fall in love with me yet!"

"Uh... huh..." Ranma replied.

"_Unless_, of course, dear Akane here wishes to be my girlfriend instead?"

Feeling uncomfortable, Akane tried to smile as she backed away slightly. "Uh, no thanks," she replied.

It wasn't as though she didn't like Tsubasa – he _was_ a pretty decent guy, after all, as far as guys went – but she was uncomfortable with it for two reasons. One, he was a crossdresser to the extent that he looked like a girl. She found that slightly unnerving, as it was completely his choice – as a guy who couldn't be any more heterosexual – to look like a girl... unlike Ranma, who had no choice but to _be_ a girl half the time. Two, he was extremely fickle when it came to the female gender. He was still in love with Ukyo, but was more than willing to jump ship if the chance ever arose.

"Well, that's your loss, I guess." Tsubasa beamed. "I guess I'll go find Okonomiyaki Ucchan's again. Got nothing better to do today!"

"Yeah, clearly..." Ranma muttered.

"Miss Tsubasa!" a screechy male voice called out in joy.

"Geck!" Tsubasa replied, suddenly looking pale. "Oh, crap..."

Akane looked to the side and felt stupefied when she saw a very familiar – and very tall – ghost cat running down the street towards them, arms open wide.

"Nya, how I have longed to see your beautiful face again! Be myai bride!"

Ranma screamed louder than any normal cat could make him scream. "Ghost cat!" he shrieked.

Tsubasa also screamed, though not as loudly. "Get away from me, you stupid ghost cat!" he yelled, flailing his arms around.

"But I want you to be myai bride!" Maomolin replied. "I've chosen _you_!"

Tsubasa frantically hopped away, still inside the trash can. "When is it gonna get through your thick skull that I'm a _guy_?"

"I keep telling you, Miss Tsubasa! That doesn't myatter!"

As Maomolin got closer, Ranma screamed again, quickly scurrying up the nearest lamppost. Akane would have sighed, but she was far too used to this sort of thing.

"Well, it _should_, you freak!"

Maomolin ran straight past Ranma and Akane, hot on Tsubasa's heels. "I'll either take you or Shampoo! Either one's fine, nya!"

"Leave me alone!"

"Come back and be myai bride!"

Akane stared after them for a few moments, still unable to fully comprehend how weird her life was. Seriously, when did everything get so random? She was used to it, but it was still weird. It was like anything could happen at any given moment. When did it all start? She glanced up at Ranma, who was clinging to the top of the lamppost and shuddering violently. Oh, yeah, when _he_ came into her life.

* * *

Ranma sighed to himself as he examined a few shirts in the men's section of the store, wondering when Akane would be done looking for new outfits in the women's section. He was beginning to get rather bored, not just from looking at shirt after shirt after shirt, but also because he was alone for the first time in a while. It was weird not having Akane near him and even weirder having enough peace and quiet to _be_ bored.

He shuddered as he remembered his close encounter with Maomolin not long before and hoped to every god in existence that he didn't see him again for a while. That ghost cat was like the devil incarnate to a guy with ailurophobia.

Trying to think about something else, he vaguely wondered what his other three fiancées were doing at that moment. No doubt looking for him, he guessed... unless they were too busy with other things for once. If so, then Shampoo was probably either out on a delivery or serving noodles to hungry customers, Ukyo was probably stuck behind her grill, cooking okonomiyaki, and Kodachi... well, he had no idea what _she_ did in her spare time. Probably either strutting around the Kuno estate or feeding her pet alligator, Mr... whatever she decided to call him. Either Scaly Green or Green Turtle, since he'd heard her use both. Whichever she felt like calling him at the time, he guessed.

"Hey," Akane's voice suddenly said.

He turned to face her and noticed that she had a pile of clothes draped over her arm. "Hey," he replied. "Got everything you need from here?"

Akane smiled. "Yep. Lemme just go pay for it and we can go buy some stationary."

He rolled his eyes playfully. "Alright."

A while later, when everything was paid for and placed into bags, Ranma and his fiancée exited the shop and headed across the plaza to where Akane would buy her new stationary.

Akane stopped outside the shop and glanced around nervously. "Ranma?"

Ranma stopped next to her. "Yeah?"

"It's been awfully quiet so far, hasn't it?"

Ranma shrugged. "Yeah, unless you count Tsubasa and..." He shivered. "The ghost cat."

She looked him in the eyes. "Yeah, but... usually, we get more chaos than _this_." She paused and shook her head. "It's probably nothing. I'm guessing everyone's busy today."

"Yeah. Guess so."

Akane smiled. "Well, come on! Let's go get my new stationary!" She dashed into the store.

Shaking his head, Ranma dashed in after her. "Wait up, Akane!"

* * *

Akane had done a lot of browsing in the store – much like she had when she'd been buying clothes – but she was finally happy with her purchase. Exiting the store with Ranma, she smiled at the extra weight that the bag of stationary was giving to her arm. She'd bought everything that she would possibly need in university, plus some extra stuff that she probably _wouldn't_ need, but she could honestly say that she'd really enjoyed herself.

"So..." Ranma asked, "we ready to go home yet?"

She gave him a half-hearted glare for his insistence to leave, feeling too happy to do otherwise. "Yeah, yeah..." she replied, "we can go now."

Ranma smiled. "Great. It's probably getting near dinner time anyways."

She playfully rolled her eyes, giving his arm a slight shove with her free hand. "Oh, Ranma..."

"What? I can't help it if I'm hungry!" He grabbed the bag out of her hand. "So, what'd you buy, anyway?"

She huffed in slight annoyance, but reached inside it and pulled out a set of stationary. "Well, I got that set they were selling for a bargain price. It has everything from pencils and erasers to compasses and protractors." She sniffed. "Though I probably won't even _need_ those last two." She dropped it back in the bag and pulled out a set of highlighter pens. "And I also got these. They were a bargain too. Plus, they might come in handy."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Highlighter pens? Jeez, Akane, you splashing out today or what?"

Akane huffed again. "Like I said, they were a bargain! Kind of hard to resist."

"How cute!" a shrill female voice called out.

Akane whirled her head in the direction of the familiar voice and paled as she saw Azusa Shiratori rollerskating straight towards her. If this wasn't bad enough, the girl was dragging her martial arts figure-skating partner, Mikado Sanzenin, by the sleeve behind her.

"Uh oh..." Ranma said.

Akane stared at the disaster looming on the horizon. "It's The Golden Pair..." she said.

Azusa suddenly let go of Mikado's sleeve – sending him flying into the store that Ranma and Akane had just exited – and dove at Akane, immediately snatching away the highlighter pens.

"Oh, Jacqueline, you're so cute!" she trilled, twirling in circles. "You're coming home with Azusa, Jacqueline!"

Akane screwed up her face in anger. "_Excuse me_, but those are _my_ highlighter pens!"

Azusa stuck her tongue out at her. "No way! Jacqueline belongs to Azusa, not ugly girl!"

Fury enveloped her at the insult. "_What_?"

Mikado stood up and dusted himself off. "Please excuse my companion," he said smoothly before flipping his hair. "She can be quite troublesome."

Azusa stuck her tongue out at him. "Nyeh!" she replied. "_You're_ the troublesome one, playboy!"

Mikado suddenly looked up at Ranma and Akane. "Ah... why, if it isn't you two." He stepped closer to Akane and, uncomfortable with the lack of personal space, she leaned backwards. "Akane. It's been too long, hasn't it? I haven't seen your pretty face for quite some time." He leaned closer and she leaned back, cringing. "You know, I still haven't gotten my kiss from three years ago."

A growling sound came from Ranma. "Don't even think about it, pretty boy," he said.

Mikado glanced up at Ranma. "Oh, yes. You were her fiancé the last time we spoke, right?"

"Yeah and that's still true, so lay off her!"

Akane glowed inside, knowing that not only was Ranma still protecting her from this jerk, but he was still proud to call her his fiancée. It was amazing how his defences dropped around Mikado.

"Hmph." Mikado pulled his head away from Akane, which she was rather grateful for. "Very well, then. I assume you'll only continue to prevent me from claiming my kiss." He flipped his brown hair again. "Such a shame, really. I'd still like to know what she tastes like."

"Keep dreaming, pal, 'cause you'll never find out."

"Ranma..." Akane said, overwhelmed by how much he cared for her. If only she could know for certain whether those feelings were romantic or not.

"Azusa!" Mikado called out, clicking his fingers. "Time to leave. Give the fair maiden back her highlighter pens."

"Noooooo!" Azusa shrieked in reply. "Her name is Jacqueline and she's Azusa's!"

Mikado scowled and turned to his partner, grabbing at the highlighter pens and trying to pull them away from her. "Come on, wench! Stop being stubborn and give them back!"

Azusa screamed. "_Noooooo_! Let go! Let go of Jacqueline!" She wrenched her arms free, then took a moment to take off one of her rollerskates. There were a few seconds of silence before she began whacking him over the head with it. "Don't steal Azusa's little Jacqueline! Jacqueline is going home with Azusa!"

"Ow! Ow! Hey! Ow! Quit it! Ow! You stupid-! Ow!"

Akane scooted slowly over to Ranma's side, watching this scene in amazement. Seriously, were the residents of Nerima ever going to change? Were they ever going to grow up? One would think there would have been some improvement in the last three years.

Azusa suddenly stopped her attack as she spotted something across the street. She gasped. "How cute!" She quickly put her rollerskate back on, threw the highlighter pens to one side and skated over to where a man at a wandering stall was selling small tanuki figurines. "Claudette! Come to Azusa, Claudette!"

Akane, shaking her head at Azusa's tiny attention span, picked up her highlighter pens, brushed them off, then put them back in the bag that Ranma was holding. "Honestly..." she muttered.

Mikado sighed. "Well, I guess this is goodbye for now," he said. "God knows I have to keep an eye on that annoying partner of mine... but be sure to think of me when I'm gone, Akane."

She looked at him uncertainly. "Uh... sure..."

"And Ranma? If you ever see the pigtailed girl, give her my regards, won't you?" He gave a brilliant smile which showed off his perfect white teeth.

Ranma growled again. "Yeah, whatever," he snapped.

Akane felt a stab of pity for her fiancé, since Mikado still didn't have a clue that he'd scarred Ranma for life with that kiss three years ago.

Mikado flipped his hair. "Well, I shall be off." He turned around and waltzed in the direction of Azusa, who was currently wrestling with the stall owner over one of his tanuki figurines.

Akane sighed. "Honestly..." she said. "I knew the peace from earlier wouldn't last."

"That's life for ya," Ranma replied, his tone still sounding bitter.

Akane looked up at him and attempted a smile. "Hey." She gave his arm a playful shove. "How about we go home now, huh?"

He looked down at her, then smiled himself. "Yeah, okay."

She smiled brighter. "Come on, then."

The two of them walked down the plaza together, side-by-side, Akane grateful about the fact that they hadn't fought much recently. She had the deal to thank for that. Smiling to herself, she hummed the tune of 'Don't Make Me Wild Like You', the song that was still a favourite of Sayuri and Yuka's.

After a while of pleasant silence, Ranma turned to her. "Hey... I'm still holding your bag!"

Akane paused mid-hum as she processed this information, then burst out laughing. Just the thought that Ranma had swiped her bag away only to end up carrying it was enough to grant her mirth.


End file.
